Singtel announces private preview of Microsoft Azure Public MEC in Asia

Singapore – Singtel today kicked off the private preview of Microsoft Azure Public MEC with Microsoft for selected enterprise customers at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. The partners collaborated to incorporate Azure Public MEC into Singtel’s 5G network and Paragon, the industry’s first-of-its-kind all-in-one platform for 5G networks, edge computing and services orchestration, to help enterprises capitalise on 5G.

Mr Bill Chang, Chief Executive Officer, Group Enterprise, Singtel said, “One of the biggest hurdles that enterprises face is having to manage multiple silos of data and systems when adopting 5G, making it challenging for them to innovate or scale quickly to keep up with market competition. By combining Microsoft Azure tools and Singtel’s 5G capabilities with Paragon, we are breaking down these silos of systems and empowering our customers to rapidly build and deploy end-to-end use cases, leveraging low latency 5G connectivity, edge computing, a rich set of applications and Microsoft tools. Existing Azure cloud customers can seamlessly come onboard the Azure Public MEC and leverage a powerful combination of hybrid app deployments spanning across the edge and cloud – enabling our customers to innovate deliver real-time AI and digital services powered by 5G.”

Singtel’s Paragon will enable enterprise customers to transmit data from their 5G devices to their applications hosted in the Azure Public MEC through secure and network performance-optimised network slices. The solution, which combines the speed, hyperconnectivity, and high bandwidth of Singtel’s 5G network with Azure services by connecting Paragon with Azure Programmable Connectivity. This integration empowers developers to create and manage new network-aware applications, which need high throughput and low latency in a cost efficient and "pay as you go" model. Use cases that involve high degree of mobility like drones, autonomous vehicles, service robots, and delivery fleet can benefit from the ability to access the Azure Public MEC in a latency-optimised manner from any location within Singapore. It will also boost business capabilities in areas such as metaverse-based real-time simulations and live video analytics.

“Singtel is empowering businesses to harness the full potential of 5G and the edge for latency-sensitive use cases across verticals such as smart cities, IoT and healthcare. Using Microsoft Azure Public MEC and Azure Programmable Connectivity with Singtel's 5G network will enable enterprises and public sector entities in Singapore to innovate and unlock new business opportunities,” said Yousef Khalidi, Corporate Vice President, Azure for Operators.

Customers can provision and manage their Azure Public MEC services and workloads through the Azure portal and other essential Azure tools.

Singtel is currently working with several customers to explore high bandwidth and low latency use cases to transform multiple sectors including smart city, public safety, transportation, health care, and urban planning.

Enterprises that are keen to co-create 5G solutions on the Azure Public MEC with Singtel can write to Singtel Business.