Bringing Private 5G and Edge Services to the City of Las Vegas
September 19, 2022
By Stephen Bye, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer, DISH Wireless
DISH Wireless and Vapor IO have been working with more than 20 other organizations to prototype and demonstrate private 5G CBRS solutions for public services in the city of Las Vegas. The collaborators envision improving many of the city’s services, including those that deliver public safety and those that support at-risk populations.
At the DISH Summit in May, the collaborators worked together to build a private 5G network and edge services platform for performance-sensitive applications like real-time video management and computer vision capabilities. Powered by DISH CBRS Priority Access Licenses (PALs) and Vapor IO’s Kinetic Grid, the platform brought together dozens of suppliers to create revenue-generating Industry 4.0 solutions at city-scale, using performance-enhancing spectrum and shared, neutral host infrastructure.
DISH Wireless is providing leadership as an integrator among partners to build an edge applications ecosystem that leverages its 5G platform to accelerate the innovation cycle that brings new solutions to the market.
Vapor IO’s Kinetic Grid in Las Vegas is part of a nationwide network of 36 cities and served as the neutral host edge environment for the 5G systems and related applications in the demo. The complete end-to-end system incorporates technologies from more than 20 companies, including Dell PowerEdge servers and AWS Outposts, to run the applications.
“We’re unlocking the economics of private 5G by putting together all of the pieces,” said Cole Crawford, CEO and founder of Vapor IO. “Enterprises want private 5G coupled with powerful edge applications, integrated to fit their needs and delivered as a service. Enterprises don’t buy technologies. They buy solutions. We’re perfecting them in Las Vegas, then taking them nationwide.”
The city of Las Vegas participated in this process at the DISH Summit by providing access to their network and facilities. In return, the city could observe how \ Vapor IO’s Kinetic Grid combined with DISH-owned PALs and integrator leadership created an ecosystem of digital applications, including real-time video inference used for public safety. Based on this demonstration, the collaborators are now working with the city to explore other 5G applications, like telemedicine services for at-risk populations.
“Wireless services and edge applications will be a cornerstone of the Las Vegas Smart City. These new technologies will help advance important city initiatives, including those that boost workforce development, serve at-risk populations and enhance public safety,” said Michael Sherwood, chief innovation officer, city of Las Vegas. “We’re proud to make Las Vegas a hub for 5G innovation and the place where new business models and services are being tested and deployed, like the ones being demonstrated by DISH Wireless and Vapor IO.”