Italtel – a telecommunications company in IT system integration, managed services, Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and all-IP solutions – announced it will receive €1.150K (US$ 1283.63K) in European Commission Research and Development (R&D) funds for its role as one of the companies promoting three Horizon 2020 research projects.

MATILDA, 5GCITY and 5G ESSENCE are all part of 5G-PPP’s Research and Innovation initiative, which the European Commission is supporting with R&D funds. MATILDA, (Grant Agreement No. 761898), aims to design and implement a holistic 5G framework for the design, development and orchestration of 5G-ready applications and 5G network services over a sliced, programmable infrastructure using Virtual Network Functions (VNFs).

Italtel is playing an important role, leading the definition of use cases supported by MATILDA and their acceptance criteria, as well as supporting demonstration activities.

5GCITY (GA No. 761508) aims to build and deploy a common, multi-tenant, open platform that extends a centralised cloud model to the extreme edge of the network, with demonstrations planned in Barcelona, Bristol and Lucca. Here, Italtel will play the key role of innovation manager, chairing the project’s Innovation Board and leading project innovations, intellectual property rights, knowledge management and standardisation activities.

Italtel has also been named as WP2 leader, taking the responsibility for coordinating requirements, use cases, architecture definition, regulations and business models.

In 5G ESSENCE (GA No.761592) Italtel will work on the edge of the network, supporting novel multimedia use cases (such as 5G Crowded Events and 5G In-flight Entertainment Systems) based on edge network acceleration techniques. Overall architecture, network embedded edge cloud platform, ultra-low latency virtualisation platform are also included within the project.

Stefano Pileri

The aim of 5G ESSENCE is to provide a highly flexible and scalable platform able to support new business models and revenue streams by creating a neutral host market and reducing operational costs by providing new opportunities for ownership, deployment, operation and amortisation.

“As we look to deliver on 5G’s promises of increased data rates and ubiquitous coverage, a number of important new techniques need to be developed and we are proud to be playing a role, alongside other companies, in these three Horizon 2020 projects,” said Italtel CEO Stefano Pileri. “Through close collaboration, team work and innovative solutions, I am sure each project will lead to the enrichment of our digital society and positively impact our products and solutions portfolio”.

Italtel’s involvement in these three projects will build on the work it has already carried out, along with partners, in other research projects such as MCN, T-NOVA and SESAME. MATILDA, 5GCITY and 5G ESSENCE will leverage its experience in VNFs, NFV, the Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing, virtualisation and cloud computing.

The projects will start in June 2017 and are expected to run for 30 months.

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