5G and Edge Accelerator Coalition courts federal agencies

Nov. 17, 2022
To accelerate the adoption of 5G, advanced wireless and edge technologies across government agencies, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has formed a coalition with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Dell Technologies, Splunk and T-Mobile.

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), on Nov. 10 announced its formation of a coalition with leading technology and telecommunications conglomerates, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Dell Technologies, Splunk and T-Mobile, to accelerate the adoption of 5G, advanced wireless and edge technologies across U.S. government agencies.

It's no secret that 5G technology is revolutionizing the ability to securely communicate and interact around the world via sensors, internet-connected devices, and high-quality video services.

GDIT contends that the 10-fold improvements in latency, speed and capacity, and the enhanced interface and integration possibilities that 5G technology provides has opened doors to advanced applications that have wide applicability across government agencies.

Capitalizing on this opportunity, the GDIT 5G and Edge Accelerator Coalition is collaborating with government agencies by leveraging GDIT's Advanced Wireless Emerge Lab to identify use cases and develop prototypes and customizable platforms that will make it faster, easier and more cost effective to deploy 5G, advanced wireless and edge capabilities.

Ben Gianni, GDIT's senior vice president and chief technology officer, commented:

"We share a common vision of how 5G, edge and advanced wireless technologies can transform government operations. Forming this coalition will help us bring our collective strengths together to provide technical differentiation and the most beneficial solutions for our government customers."

Under terms of a new agreement, GDIT will design, deploy and maintain secure end-to-end 5G solutions in collaboration with the coalition and its broader partner ecosystem.

Highlights of the coalition agreement include the following:

  • The coalition will leverage AWS to provide cloud infrastructure to connect edge devices to cloud services.
  • Cisco will provide 5G core and mobile edge computing capabilities that enable data processing.
  • Dell Technologies will provide open infrastructure and edge operations software, artificial intelligence-enhanced edge devices and sensors.
  • Splunk will provide cybersecurity automation and edge computing capabilities.
  • T-Mobile will provide network bandwidth, expertise, and advanced industry solutions to address large use cases such as smart infrastructure.

Carl DeGroote, vice president of federal sales, Cisco, said:

"As part of this new coalition, we can collaborate with other technology, telecommunications and government leaders to help power an inclusive future. We're excited to apply our 5G core and mobile edge compute expertise to accelerate the adoption of 5G and help advance wireless and edge technologies across government agencies."

Bethann Pepoli, group vice president, LCC, Splunk, remarked:

"In today's landscape, 5G solutions provide a wealth of benefits for the federal government and we are committed to helping them adopt and maximize these innovative technologies to best achieve their missions. Security is a top concern when it comes to implementing these new technologies and we are focused on helping to ensure the government has the correct tools and support to maximize their cybersecurity operations and threat response."

GDIT says that developed solutions will support federal, state and local agencies' unique mission requirements from the enterprise to the edge in a wide variety of applications, including military, logistics and supply chain, healthcare, education and smart infrastructure.

David Bezzant, T-Mobile's vice president of sales, public sector, concluded:

"At T-Mobile, it's our goal to simplify advanced network solutions for all our business and government customers, both through the products we offer and through collaborations like this one. Network technology and management is complex and cutting-edge 5G applications, like AI, add to the overall complexity. At T-Mobile, we have the 5G assets and expertise to take the heavy lift of network design, deployment and management off government agencies so they can focus on how to use cutting-edge applications to benefit communities."

More information is available at www.gdit.com.

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