The wheels of the times are rolling forward. In the mobile communications industry, if someone leaves, someone enters the market. After eight years, Siemens once again stood in front of the door, trying to use the key of “5G private network” to reopen the door to the world of mobile communications.
Recently, the latest report from the market research company Omdia showed that on the day Deutsche Telekom and Hannover Messe announced the creation of a private network covering more than 1 million square meters of indoor and outdoor areas, Siemens hinted that the company is building an independently created 5G infrastructure. And the idea of achieving greater 5G ambitions in the industrial market. According to the report, Siemens will establish a separate 5G dedicated network focusing on industrial applications in the main venue.
In fact, Siemens’ above-mentioned actions are not surprising, because all of these are traceable. Siemens has been conducting 5G testing and research at its automotive testing center in Nuremberg. It also created its own 5G private network infrastructure in Amberg and Karlsruhe: In these places, Siemens is completely dependent on its own independently developed products and solutions. Established manufacturers frustrated and exit Siemens’ telecommunications history can be traced back to the 19th century, when the company began manufacturing telephone exchanges (before that, telegraph equipment was manufactured). It has existed for a long time in the telecommunications industry like its Finnish counterpart Nokia. The fate of Siemens and Nokia are also very similar. This starts with it giving up the mobile phone business. In 2005, Siemens sold its struggling mobile phone division to BenQ and licensed its mobile phone brand to BenQ for five years. This transaction was interpreted by the media at the time as a “snake swallowing elephant”, indicating that in the market at that time, Siemens The mobile phone business has a pivotal position. It is reported that BenQ is a Taiwanese company that produces BenQ-Siemens mobile phones in its German subsidiary (filed for bankruptcy in 2006). After the acquisition of Siemens’ mobile phone division, it did not bring business growth to BenQ, but became a “hot potato”. In fact, in 2004, the Chinese mobile phone market entered the “Ice Age”, but Siemens is still following the steps and keeping track of the old ways. The speed of introducing new technologies and new functions is always slow. In the ever-changing mobile phone market, it can only be killed. Caught off guard. If the abandonment of the mobile phone business is understood as Siemens’ broken arm, then the transfer of all shares of “Nosi” will completely “kill Siemens” in the field of communications. In June 2006, Nokia and Siemens merged the telecommunications equipment business of the two companies to form Nokia Siemens Networks. Both parties invested 50%, and the total transaction amount reached 25 billion euros. In April 2007, Nokia Siemens Networks officially put into operation, once occupied the world’s second largest manufacturer of communications equipment, second only to Ericsson. In 2013, Nokia will acquire all shares of Nokia-Siemens Networks held by German Siemens at a price of 1.7 billion euros (approximately 2.2 billion US dollars). After the acquisition, Nokia-Siemens Networks became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia, and “Siemens” was removed from the company’s name, and the company’s headquarters remained in Finland. For the next eight years, Siemens disappeared from the communications field. It was not until the news that Siemens announced its entry into the 5G private network field recently broke that people recalled that Siemens was once a veteran manufacturer in the communications field. Aiming at the 5G private network market According to reports, Siemens has a clear direction for returning to the field of mobile communications, that is, the field of 5G private networks. The reasons for this are also obvious. For smart manufacturing, the deployment of local private networks is the most common due to delay, control, and security requirements. The private network designed and deployed for enterprise-level users can optimize and redefine corporate business processes, and achieve functions that cannot be achieved by current wired networks and WIFI networks. For industrial users, this private network can meet production-critical applications in the coverage, The business requirements for performance and production safety are the infrastructure of cyber-physical systems represented by Industry 4.0. The strategic importance of private networks has been reflected in 5G research and development. In previous generations of networks, private networks were only additional functions of public cellular systems, but now they can directly rely on 5G networks to achieve future private network requirements. According to the “LTE and 5G Private Network Tracking Report-Fourth Quarter of 2020” released by Omdia, industrial vertical industries account for more than 50% of all LTE and 5G private network announcements. With a history of more than 170 years, Siemens has a strong practical ability and right to speak in the industrial field. If an industrial company that is already using Siemens products and solutions chooses a 5G supplier, it is difficult to say that it will not give priority to Siemens. Because Siemens can use its existing advantages in the industrial market, including know-how, customers, technology and solutions. Everyone is talking about the key importance of understanding vertical industries, and Siemens will be better at these than operators to a large extent, so that it can better serve those key industrial applications. As we all know, Germany is a traditional industrial power, and many industrial giants are paying close attention to the application of 5G in the industrial field, and they have proposed 5G private network frequency requirements to BNetzA very early. In August 2018, Germany planned 3700-3800MHz for regional 5G systems, the purpose of which is to meet the needs of 5G applications in industries such as industrial automation, agriculture, and forestry. Based on the characteristics of the country, Germany regards private network 5G as one of the important models for the development of 5G industry applications. For this purpose, it has deliberately planned mid- and high-band frequency resources, formulated relatively complete frequency management policies and technical specifications, and encouraged enterprises to actively apply. At present, many German companies have formulated 5G development plans and submitted applications for 5G private network frequencies. Siemens has also applied for regional 5G frequencies for six factories and is currently performing performance evaluations. Although it is not clear what the infrastructure, products and solutions mentioned by Siemens in the statement are, what is its business plan, and how it will expand the market. At this point, there are not enough details yet to truly assess the impact of this statement. But it is obvious that Siemens is using self-developed methods to move towards 5G private networks, and equipment vendors and operators in the mobile communications field may usher in a strong competitor. C114 Communication Network Lesi
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