In a move to investigate the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning Finnish company Nokia has entered into an agreement with China Mobile jointly establish a research centre in Hangzhou, China.

China Mobile will be leading the research in terms of scenario selection, requirements confirmation, open API standardization and solution definition. With the help of Nokia 5G Future X architecture, a demo system will be developed to verify technology use cases.

At the Hangzhou laboratory, both companies will encourage and develop an open RAN and 5G ecosystem working with third parties to leverage AI and machine learning. The companies’ research will use the Nokia AirScale Cloud RAN, AirFrame OpenRack, open edge server and ReefShark chipsets, as well as Nokia-developed AI middleware to access embedded intelligence.

Yuhong Huang, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI)  said: “China Mobile has been paying attention to the application of artificial intelligence for a long time, and making effort to build an open and collaborative 5G+AI  ecosystem. With the signing of this MoU, we are pleased to initiate the collaboration on the research of big data and machine learning technologies applying to 5G RAN network, and make joint effort in the O-RAN alliance which was kickoffed recently to enhance the intelligence of 5G network, reduce the complexity, and explore the new capabilities of network.”

Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “The work we are doing with China Mobile is a prime example of how we can help our customers unlock the potential within their 5G networks using open interfaces and toolkits. The use of AI and machine learning will enable myriad new services opportunities and we are pleased to leverage the capabilities of our 5G Future X architecture to support China Mobile’ AI research to optimize future networks and the delivery of many innovative new services.”