US telco Verizon Business has partnered with Deloitte in an effort to drive the rollout and adoption of mobile edge computing (MEC) services for enterprises.

Together the companies will develop solutions targeted at specific verticals, beginning with manufacturing and retail. The thinking behind the partnership is that it brings together Verizon’s network know-how and Deloitte’s expertise in application development and systems integration.

“In our recently published Deloitte Advanced Wireless Adoption study, over 85 percent of US executives surveyed indicated that advanced wireless is a force multiplier that will unlock the full potential of edge computing, AI, Cloud, IoT, and data analytics. Our collaboration with Verizon combines Deloitte’s business transformation expertise with advanced wireless and MEC technology to deliver game changing solutions,” said Ajit Prabhu, US ecosystems and alliances strategy officer, and 5G/edge computing commercialisation leader at Deloitte.

To address the manufacturing sector, Verizon and Deloitte are co-developing a smart factory solution that will use computer vision and sensor-based detection – coupled with MEC – to identify and predict quality defects on the assembly line and automatically alert staff in near real-time.

They are also working on an integrated network and application edge compute environment that improves overall efficiency by reducing the need for manual quality inspection, maintaining productivity, and reducing waste, which lowers the cost of raw materials.

ABI Research recently estimated that spending on smart manufacturing platforms – which enable manufacturers to manage devices, connectivity, infrastructure and data – will reach $32 billion per year by 2025. Separately, it also predicted that demand for edge will help to propel overall global telco cloud revenue to $29.3 billion by 2025, compared to $8.7 billion this year.

“By bringing together Verizon’s 5G and MEC prowess with Deloitte’s deep industry expertise and track record in system integration with large enterprises on smart factories, we plan to deliver cutting-edge solutions that will close the gap between digital business operations and legacy manufacturing environments and unlock the value of the end-to-end digital enterprise,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “This collaboration is part of Verizon’s broader strategy to align with enterprises, start-ups, universities and government to explore how 5G and MEC can disrupt and transform nearly every industry.”