Mavenir, the Network Software Provider transforming the way the world connects by building the future of networks with cloud-native software that runs on any cloud, today announced that BAI Communications (BAI), a global communications infrastructure provider, will launch a Smart City project for Sunderland City Council in the north of England (UK) using Mavenir's MAVedge solution. BAI Communications will build a new 5G-centric network to help industries like manufacturing and logistics, education, and social care adopt transformative digital services faster. The initial scope calls for the deployment of a 5G private network in the city centre, with the potential to evolve into a neutral host network. For smart city initiatives, neutral host models provide coverage and connectivity. They make it possible for local governments to provide smart services and run a variety of smart community applications in a more viable and cost-effective manner. MAVedge combines Mavenir's cutting-edge Open vRAN and 5G Packet Core solutions to help this Smart City project achieve its next-generation digital transformation and provide advanced 5G mobile connectivity to the Sunderland community. MAVedge enables secure private networks to be distributed at the edge and powers a digital marketplace of applications and devices, resulting in a cost-effective environment for a variety of enterprise and industrial use cases. The 5G Open vRAN and 5G Packet Core solutions use cloud-native virtualization techniques to create a fully scalable and virtualized network architecture with open standard interfaces. BAI Communications can use the Open RAN platform to deploy radio units from a variety of vendors. The solution relies on software running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to deliver cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and agility while providing a single architecture as a foundation for a variety of use cases. Image Source