Although there is increasing talk about the deployment of 5G technology in Canada, the implementation of 5G networks and infrastructures is in fact expected to be gradual in the country over the next few years. We are still in the early stages, although some industry players already have significant and concrete achievements to their credit.
The full potential of 5G will be revealed to Canadians gradually, as new and innovative applications are developed and can be supported by powerful, high-performance 5G terminals and networks to function well and deliver their full potential. At this point in time, access to such 5G infrastructure is still limited in Canada.
A Complete Development Environment at the Power of 5G
It is in this context that the contribution of ENCQOR 5G becomes particularly strategic. Through its 5G test bed, which is open and accessible to users at no cost, ENCQOR 5G is already in a position to provide access to all the current capabilities of 5G technology to the various industry players, be they large corporations, SMEs, innovators or academia.
ENCQOR 5G’s test platform includes access to the three 5G frequency ranges (which is unique in Canada) as well as ten 5G terminals located in each of our five innovation hubs (for a total of 50) located in Kitchener (Communitech), Ottawa (Invest), Montreal (Centech), Quebec City (UMRsu) and Toronto (MaRS). Note that our five sites and terminals are all interconnected by a network whose capacity has increased tenfold in recent weeks, from 10 to 100 gigabits/sec.
ENCQOR 5G also enables businesses, innovators and the academic community to develop and test advanced and sophisticated 5G applications and solutions requiring state-of-the-art 5G infrastructures. In the context of the pandemic, we have deployed various initiatives in recent months that allow companies, even from more remote regions, to connect and use our testbed for training or development work.
Being Part of ENCQOR 5G
ENCQOR 5G now constitutes a vast ecosystem, supported by OCE in Ontario and Prompt and ADRIQ in Quebec. Our community already boasts over 400 participating SMEs, large companies such as CGI, Ciena, Ericsson, IBM Bromont and Thales, many of Canada’s leading wireless service providers and numerous academic players from 18 institutions in Ontario and Quebec.
ENCQOR 5G supports a wide range of innovation initiatives in sectors such as artificial intelligence, transportation, smart cities and the digital industry.
I remind you that those who wish to submit a 5G project for funding or a simple request for free access to ENCQOR 5G can fill out their applications in the Québec and Ontario sections of our website.