NTT DATA and Ericsson Partner for 5G Enterprise Solutions

NTT Data, a global IT services provider and AI leader, have partnered with Ericsson for a strategic partnership which aims to scale the adoption of private 5G and enable AI-driven transformation.

The partnership will combine Ericsson's Private 5G and Edge platforms with NTT Data's full-stack enterprise network services and IT/OT security, which enables the two companies to deliver business outcomes at global scale.

AI adoption is becoming standard for digital business and technology services, and it is just one of four key priority areas for NTT Data and Ericsson's partnership.

Scaling global private 5G services

In the multi-year partnership, NTT Data will act as one of Ericsson's key global system integration and managed services providers by delivering 5G as a fully managed service with consistent architecutre, operations and security worldwide. This is one of the four key pillars of the partnership. 

Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice-President of Worldwide Telco Research at IDC, says: “Private 5G is the backbone for scaling AI in production, where autonomous systems must operate reliably and at scale, but integration complexity often remains the final hurdle.

“The combined expertise of NTT Data and Ericsson seamlessly integrates edge AI and physical AI with enhanced connectivity, overcoming operational, scalability and accountability challenges and accelerating the deployment of AI with confidence.”

A white paper produced for AMD, Mavenir and Red Hat in 2025 revealed how AI is set to scale nationwide, particularly in private cloud, as 46% of operator respondents expect to deploy 5G core on private telco cloud infrastructure. 

Embedding AI into enterprise connectivity

Another of the four aims for NTT Data and Ericsson's partnership is to embed AI directly into enterprise connectivity.

NTT DATA Edge AI agents will run on Ericsson’s enterprise Edge platforms, enabling real-time intelligence and autonomous decision-making where data is generated.

Shahid Ahmed, Global Head of Edge Services at NTT Data, said: “As enterprises adopt AI at the edge, they need partners who can bring connectivity, intelligence and security together in a way that actually works in production.

“Together with Ericsson, we can deploy these solutions faster, operate them at scale and deliver outcomes. Private 5G gives enterprises the foundation they need to achieve real, measurable impact with edge AI and physical AI deployments.” 

Unlocking edge AI and physical AI use cases

The third pillar of the partnership is the ability for the two companies to deliver proven private 5G, edge AI and physical AI use cases across manufacturing, mining, ports, airports, energy, transportation and “smart cities”.

Smart cities leverage advanced technology to improve efficiency of services and the quality of city-living, for example through telco companies providing essential 5G, IoT and fiber network infrastructure. 

For smart cities, the partnership is aiming to implement intelligent traffic management, public safety monitoring and real-time optimisation of energy and municipal services.

Another use case NTT Data and Ericsson will focus on is transportation, including the automation of logistics using real-time vehicle and asset data for dynamic routing, tracking and safety. These aims all combine together for the main goal of advancing connectivity for people and industries.

Asa Tamsons, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Enterprise in Wireless Solutions for Ericsson, said: “Ericsson has been advancing enterprise connectivity for over a decade. This extends that capability to support edge AI and physical AI at scale across industries.”

“By combining our global platforms with NTT DATA’s engineering and managed services, industry expertise and AI-driven operations, enterprises can move from experimentation to always-on, production-grade operations.”

Manufacturing, energy and mining

NTT Data and Ericsson aim to automate quality inspection and maintenance duties using sensor and vision data, while also monitoring real-time safety.

In the energy and mining sectors, the aim is to automate operations like intelligent inspsection and use AI-driven monitoring in complex and hazardous environments. 

Through the partnership, enterprises will have a reliable path to connectivity solutions and automated services deployment.