Investment management firm BlackRock said today that it will deploy a private 5G wireless network in its new New York City headquarters using the Verizon Business On Site private wireless offering. According to Verizon, BlackRock is the first U.S. customer for the service.
The service uses the same technology that supports Verizon’s 5G commercial network but the private wireless network is for BlackRock’s exclusive use. The network will use Verizon Ultra Wideband service, which uses the carrier’s millimeter wave and/ or mid-band spectrum, and will provide high speeds with low latency to support BlackRock’s trading floor, client-facing conference center, auditorium and meeting rooms.
On Site 5G can be used in place of office Wi-Fi and can support enhanced training, augmented reality/virtual reality, enhanced security management and monitoring, edge computing and other emerging technologies. It is a non-standalone private network that uses small cells, an LTE packet core and 5G radios.
“5G Ultra Wideband is the platform for 21st-century business and should be a prerequisite for any workplace that aims to be state of the art and future ready,” Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business CEO Tami Erwin said in a press release. “BlackRock’s decision to outfit their new headquarters with On Site 5G from Verizon Business puts them at the forefront of data-centric innovation, in full view of clients, guests and partners, who can enjoy the on-premises private network and all its benefits as well.”
On Site 5G launched in June 2021 and can be connected to LANs, SD-WANs and enterprise applications via 5G or LTE.
AT&T also offers private wireless networks. Last week, it announced Private 5G Edge, a service that combines wireless private networks with multi-access edge computing (MEC) from Microsoft Azure. MEC reduces latency by bringing cloud resources closer to end users. Private 5G Edge will use CBRS and/or AT&T spectrum. A rather unique feature of the offering is that it applications will be capable of moving seamlessly between the private wireless network and AT&T’s commercial network.
