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Nokia joins Bristol digital infrastructure project
Bristol’s pioneering Bristol is Open (BIO) project has signed two major milestone agreements with Nokia and technology company Zeetta Networks.
The BIO network uses the council-owned fibre-optic network beneath the streets of Bristol to link several nodes around the city. A variety of wireless access networks branch out from the core fibre network and can deliver user data rates up to 1 Gbps.
In addition there are sensors across the city which supply the network with real-time information about many aspects of Bristol’s environment including energy, air quality, temperature, humidity and traffic flows.
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Former mobile phone company Nokia – who now describe themselves as “a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things” – will trial, test and demonstrate new and emerging capabilities on Bristol Is Open’s city-scale digital research and development network.
Nokia is contributing a combination of funding, technical staff and Nokia Bell Labs expertise to Bristol Is Open. This will set the groundwork to support trials of various Nokia communications capabilities at scale.
Cormac Whelan, from Nokia, said it has chosen Bristol because the city has a track record in “demonstrating social innovation using new forms of digital connectivity”.
“The combination of ‘how’ and ‘why’ to build a smart city that we see in Bristol is very appealing and we are delighted to join the Bristol Is Open project as a long-term partner.”
Meanwhile, University of Bristol spin-out company Zeetta will install, maintain and support BIO software and provide a portal which allows third parties to access an on-demand ‘slice’ of the BIO network for the development of their own application or service.
Barney Smith from Bristol Is Open said the “pioneering” technology will transform the way BIO works: “Having Zeetta Networks’ technology as part of the Bristol Is Open platform will consolidate and extend the capabilities that we presently offer our partners.”
Read more: A revolution beneath the streets
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