PLDT Enterprise, Ericsson collaborate for development of AI solutions

PLDT Enterprise, through Innovation Laboratory (Innolab), is partnering with Swedish Information and Communications Technology leader, Ericsson, to co-innovate on artificial intelligence-enabled solutions for various industries including the public sector.

PLDT Enterprise, through Innolab, and Ericsson sign an agreement for the development of artificial intelligence-enabled solutions to accelerate the digital transformation of Philippine industries. From left to right: Niko Lorenzo Peralta, Head of Business and Innovations Strategy and Special Projects at PLDT Enterprise; Melvin Jeffrey Chan, Vice President and Head of Innovations, Business Development, Consulting, and Presales at PLDT Enterprise; Johan Kvist, Head of PLDT and Smart Key Account Management at Ericsson; and Andrew Thuan, Head of Cloud Software Services and ICT Innovation Ericsson Singapore, Brunei & Philippines

“The partnership with Ericsson will explore the possibility of ideating and co-developing innovative solutions for different industries using Ericsson’s AI Exchange Platform,” says Melvin Jeffrey Chan, PLDT Enterprise Vice President and Head of Innovations, Business Development, Consulting, and Presales.

The Ericsson AI Exchange is an enterprise-grade solution that leverages on an ecosystem of developers and partners. It is a full technology stack based on a distributed architecture deployed in a hybrid-cloud.

PLDT Innolab was designed to provide local industries and start-ups with world-class facilities that focus on research and co-development of new generation products and innovations.

Niko Peralta, PLDT Enterprise Head of Business and Innovations Strategy and Special Projects, is confident that the collaboration of Ericsson and PLDT Innolab will yield results similar to those achieved by the group’s partnerships with Packetworx and ThingsPH, which also dealt with artificial intelligence and Internet of Things.

“PLDT Enterprise is always on the lookout for innovative solutions that drive the digital transformation of our customers. We are fully committed to supporting local startups and other industries through the provision of cutting-edge solutions developed by our innovation units,” says Peralta. “We are certain that the Innolab and Ericsson collaboration will deliver digital solutions, including improved machine vision, that will benefit different industries,” he adds.

Ericsson’s AI Exchange has also been used for a joint Ericsson-Smart sustainability project in Sasmuan, Pampanga, which involves the protection of mangrove forests and the detection and species classification of birds. For this project with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Ericsson embedded AI models within camera systems so they could transmit images when they detect people in protected areas or birds in sanctuaries to avoid using expensive bandwidth. According to local government unit partners, this AI system and the support of Ericsson and PLDT’s wireless unit, Smart, helped grant the site’s status as the Philippines’ 8th Ramsar site, or a wetland of international importance.

These initiatives align with PLDT Enterprise’s continuous drive to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals into its core business. Through the Ericsson AI Exchange, not only can PLDT Enterprise explore queuing and traffic analysis for more efficient business operations, but machine vision and AI-driven insights can also help enhance food production, improve occupational health, safety, and security, and strengthen environmental protection for biodiversity.

Andrew Thuan, Ericsson Head of Cloud Software Services and ICT Innovation Ericsson Singapore, Brunei & Philippines says companies can maximize AI adoption and digital transformation using Ericsson’s AI Exchange Platform, reducing the cost of the transition to digital service delivery, and reducing the time to market in many new areas.

He adds that Ericsson’s AI Exchange with PLDT Innolab is a turnkey computer vision platform that is production-ready and could easily be used by companies. “It is an agnostic, enterprise-grade platform that can seamlessly integrate with any ecosystem either via application programmable interfaces or as an app,” he says.

AI allows machines to learn, reason, predict outcomes, and even make decisions that mimic human behavior. It can be used across all sorts of industries from health care and cybersecurity to agriculture and construction to streamline processes, improve accuracy, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.