Ericsson, Supermicro advance enterprise connectivity for edge AI systems

As edge computing demand surges, driving artificial intelligence (AI)-powered use cases requiring real-time, low-latency data processing beyond the datacentre, Ericsson and Supermicro have announced they are to explore cooperation on creating a 5G-based communications bundle for rapid time-to-deployment for multiple AI edge applications, and support sectors such as retail, manufacturing, healthcare and smart infrastructure, especially in environments where wired connectivity isn’t an option.

As they created their joint offering, the global comms tech provider and application-optimised total IT services firm said they are working in a world where AI is becoming integrated into a wide range of business functions, with many of the AI applications requiring low-latency response times.

They noted IDC research forecasting that global edge spending will hit $232bn in 2025, hence justifying an intent to engage in a strategic collaboration to accelerate Edge AI deployment.

This development, they said, is leading to a demand for Edge AI services that deploy pre-trained AI models, generative AI and agentic AI to the network edge, outside the datacentre for local processing. The combination of Supermicro and Ericsson technology is intended to enable businesses to rapidly deploy Edge AI infrastructure together with wireless connectivity. 

Under their memorandum of understanding, the two companies said they would explore connectivity through combining Ericsson enterprise wireless 5G services with Supermicro’s Edge AI platforms into commercial bundles. These will have two key aims: to deliver advanced Edge AI capabilities that leverage 5G network connectivity as a key value-adding attribute; and to simplify procurement and deployment with a unified offering with pre-validated AI compute and 5G connectivity.

5G, SD-WAN and security appliances are critical components for an enterprise when traditional wired connectivity may be inconvenient or even unavailable for some of these edge deployments. In these situations, 5G can serve as the primary WAN connection or even as a backup WAN connection for business-critical deployments.

Specific industry applications in the bundle include retail; smart factory and industrial automation; traffic safety; and healthcare management. In retail use cases, the combined bundle is seen as being able to accelerate checkout processing through the real-time image recognition of items, enhance inventory tracking, and detect and alert against theft.

Smart factory and industrial automation features offer the ability to monitor and control industrial machinery by locally processing sensor and camera data while also offering the ability to enhance traffic safety by data analysis directly from camera and sensor sources for adaptive real-time traffic management. Healthcare management capability has been added to support operations such as just-in-time inventory management to reduce waste and ensure critical medical supplies are available.

“Supermicro delivers cutting-edge solutions that allow enterprises to harness the power of AI at the edge,” said Mory Lin, vice-president of internet of things/embedded and edge computing at Supermicro.

“Our compute platforms combined with Ericsson’s 5G technology will allow enterprises and public sector organisations to extend the reach of their AI applications where wired technologies are not a viable option, such as smart intersections, industrial manufacturing and remote infrastructure,” he added.

Jonathan Fischer, vice-president of global OEM and embedded partners at Ericsson, said: “[Ericsson WAN edge technology has been] allowing enterprises to connect anything, anywhere with speed and agility. We are excited to collaborate with Supermicro to extend this same speed and agility to the emerging Edge AI space. Together, we have an opportunity to make it easier for enterprises to operate edge intelligence.”