The Drones-as–a-Service partner program by Nokia has expanded with private wireless partners to provide Nokia Drone Networks benefits to industries in North America, allowing enterprises and service providers to rapidly realize the capabilities of drones.
The drones meet business needs as well as having the added benefit of bringing in new use cases and revenue streams. Enterprises can opt to purchase the industrial grade drone-in-a-box solution by Nokia Drone Networks or they can choose instead to lease, share or hire a drone for one-off or regularly scheduled flights if they wish to minimize upfront capital.
Delivering lower cost of ownership so more enterprises and service providers can take advantage of industrial drones.
Nokia, alongside the members of its partner program, will also offer bundled service packages, aimed to the needs of enterprises, including drone maintenance and managing data analytics. Flight scheduling, working with relevant spectrum and airspace regulators to gain approvals will also be managed by the companies, where required.
DXC Technology, one of the partners of Nokia within the private wireless space, will work with regulators and the industry ecosystem for flight approvals to achieve both drone safety and innovation.
Public and private 4G/LTE and 5G connectivity ensure safe, reliable and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, NDN will ensure enterprises to see fast return on investment, when deployed with Nokia Digital Automation Cloud private wireless-as-a-Service. Operating remotely for one-off or scheduled flights, the solution benefits from a ruggedized docking station that doubles as a recharging station.
Enterprises will therefore be able to rely on the solution to realize new capabilities and efficiencies such as surveillance and remote facilities, managing inspections in hazardous locations, environmental or stockpile monitoring at a mine or for public safety search and rescue operations.
Companies that decide to lease or deploy Nokia Drone Networks will benefit from an end-to-end solution, which has received certification from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for operation in North America.
Stephan Litjens, Vice President of Enterprise Campus Edge Solutions at Nokia, commented, “We are pleased to leverage our existing private wireless partnerships, such as the one with DXC Technology to offer Drones-as-a-Service to the North American market. This allows us to offer our innovative solution in a way that meets the complex needs of any enterprise or industry. 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.”
The DXC Team, visited Nokia in Espoo, to witness the Drone use cases firsthand, and stated, “We want our customers to book a drone flight with the simplicity of hailing a ride-share. Enterprises will benefit from simplicity, leveraging a complete FCC certified drone-in-a-box solution provided by a single vendor without headaches as we manage the flight approval for them working with the relevant authorities. They can adopt drones however it makes sense for their business. And those that choose to deploy the drone-in-a-box solution alongside Nokia DAC private wireless will leverage the greatest capabilities, unlocking new use cases for the fastest return on investment.”
