On Monday, Rogers joined Microsoft at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to unveil the private preview of Azure Programmable Connectivity (APC), a solution for developers building 5G-network aware applications.
“At Microsoft, we are working with telecom leaders like Rogers to unlock new opportunities with cloud, automation and AI that will improve connectivity for Canadians,” said Chris Barry, president, Microsoft Canada. “Today’s announcement, which builds on our significant partnership with Rogers, will put modern connected apps even closer to the problems we need to solve.”
Canadian developers will have access to a location-based API (application programming interface) on Rogers’ national 5G network so they can build applications that will locate their devices anytime, anywhere.
Waterloo-based IoT innovator CloudHawk will work with Rogers to develop the API.
Rogers said the partnerships with CloudHawk and Microsoft seek to advance its vision for a made-in-Canada 5G ecosystem and further its 5G research partnerships with the University of British Columbia and the University of Waterloo.
Microsoft detailed the five key capabilities of APC that will help developers improve the performance and reliability of their network-aware applications:
- Optimal endpoint discovery – use information about network conditions between clients and servers to dispatch clients to the correct endpoint, whether on the edge or in the cloud.
- Network quality of service – Ask a network to improve conditions between a client and a server when the conditions degrade.
- Device localization – Ask the network for information about a client’s current location
- Workload mobility – Move a client’s workload to a better endpoint when network conditions change
- Adaptive cloud usage – Adjust the mix of computations performed on the edge
“We envision APC becoming the best place for developers to access network APIs and operators to distribute their APIs by resolving these competing requirements,” Microsoft said in a release.
Microsoft is also collaborating with operators AT&T and T-Mobile, and network technology partners/API platform providers such as Ericsson and Nokia, to test the potential of APC.
Developers can submit an application to join the APC private preview here.
