Martello Technologies announced today that it has completed the first phase of testing of its SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) solution on Encqor 5G, Canada’s first pre-commercial 5G wireless network for open innovation.
In the first phase of the project, the Ottawa-based company exhibited compatibility with LTE-A, a precursor to 5G. It will be testing unified communications (UC) traffic on LTE-A and 5G in the later phases, a Dec. 3 press release indicated.
“Through our work with the Encqor 5G testbed, we have an opportunity to engage with many of the world’s top technology players, from Ericsson to CGI, in accelerating Canadian innovation in 5G,” said John Proctor, president and chief executive officer of Martello. “Encqor 5G is central to Martello’s strategy, giving us the ability to integrate solutions at the earliest points in the development cycle and demonstrate Martello’s 5G readiness.”
With the help of this 5G wireless testbed, Martello says it intends to demonstrate that its SD-WAN solution is capable of delivering stable and predictable handling of UC and other real-time IoT traffic on 5G networks. In addition, the project is expected to make Martello’s SD-WAN technology more compatible with the emerging 5G standard.
Proctor said the company’s SD-WAN and link balancing technology provides network connectivity in challenging environments around the world, including in regions where the telecom infrastructure is limited.
Claudia Krywiak, president and chief executive officer of Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), the coordinating member of Encqor 5G for Ontario, described Martello as an important part of Canada’s adoption of 5G.
“Businesses like Martello are paving the way to Canada’s 5G future, with the support of private industry, federal, and provincial governments,” he said in the release.
Launched in March 2018, Encqor 5G is a program funded by the Government of Canada through the Strategic Innovation Fund, the Governments of Ontario and Quebec as well as leading industry players IBM, Ericsson, Thales, Ciena, and CGI. It currently has testbeds in Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Montreal, and Kitchener-Waterloo.
The program has the mandate to bring together academia and small and medium enterprises to contribute to the advancement of research, innovation, and demonstration of applications through a pre-commercial 5G testbed.
In May 2019, Martello successfully delivered mobile SD-WAN for autonomous vehicles proof of concept with BlackBerry QNX.