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Vapor IO and Packet team up to introduce on-demand 5G-as-a-Service 

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The leading edge-computing and data center provider, Vapor IO, is collaborating with Packet, a bare metal cloud provider, to launch 5G-as-a-service (5GaaS) offering through Vapor IO’s Kinetic Edge micro data centers.  

As a part of the partnership, Vapor IO will supervise the physical services, deliver real-time infrastructure management, and operate the lit fiber networking. On the other hand, Packet will work on compute services as an on-demand utility, and make the 5G infrastructure available to edge consumers through its portal, and other DevOps platforms like Terraform and Ansible.  

The new 5G-as-a-Service offering will consist of a 5G capable infrastructure and connectivity which will be deployed to edge locations. It will be delivered as a part of Vapor IO’s Project Volutus, which exhibits partnership with big companies like Crown Castle, Intel, Flex, the Open19 Foundation, etc.  

“5G-as-a-Service is a logical extension of the centralized cloud computing model, only delivered in edge data centers with carrier-grade equipment,” said Zachary Smith co-founder and CEO of Packet. “With this partnership, operators and content players can deploy 5G infrastructure with the agility and economics of the traditional cloud, powering new low-latency services at the network edge.” 

5GaaS will be packaged as a pay-as-you-go service, which will help network operators to shift costs from Capital Expenditure to Operational Expenditure. It will enable them to focus more on services for end users instead of building and operating cloud data centers.  

“As wireless technology moves to commoditized x86 and ARM servers, cloud-like operating models will become the de facto standard,” said Cole Crawford, founder and CEO of Vapor IO. “Spectrum owners should not have to build a distributed data center footprint from scratch when they can lease 5G infrastructure capacity on demand. Through Volutus and 5G-as-a-Service, operators can optimize their CAPEX/OPEX and improve their balance sheet while creating more agility. Both incumbent spectrum owners and new entrants will accelerate their 5G rollouts at lower costs while achieving the privacy and security they have come to expect.” 

These 5G services can be deployed using both hourly and spot market models, saving costs for Telcos, spectrum owners, and unlicensed spectrum users.  

Since 5G-as-a-Service will be delivered through Kinetic Edge, the operators will be able to cross-connect with other network operators and service providers. It will enhance collaboration among developers building new services like multi-access edge computing (MEC) and edge cloud services.  

Also read: Juniper Networks and The Satellite Applications Catapult Build 5G Testbed for Mobile and IoT Services for UK Critical Infrastructure 

The new platform by Vapor IO and Packet will pave way for new edge applications such as mobile augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), low latency internet of things (IoT), and autonomous vehicles. It will initially be launched in Chicago later this year, and further in other US cities.  

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