Thanks to a new partnership between Amazon Web Services and Bell Canada, Canada will have a new multi-access edge computing platform on a 5G network. It seems like every week in the Edge Computing Patent Forecast® sector there is news of a web service host, like amazon, partnering up with a telecommunications partner like Bell Canada. Previous partnerships between web service hosts and telecommunications providers include AT&T and Microsoft, Verizon and IBM, Dell Technologies and SK Telecom, and Maxis and HP. Bell Canada’s partnership with Amazon Web Services will be very similar to these previous partnerships listed, in that Amazon Web Services will provide the edge computing and storage services to the edge of Bell Canada’s 5G network. Amazon currently holds thirty-six (36) patent assets in the Edge Computing Patent Forecast® sector which is a clear indicator that they are asserting themselves as a big player in edge computing, and in doing so it has chosen Bell Canada as its partner even though Bell Canada currently holds no patent assets in the Edge Computing Patent Forecast® sector.

The reason Bell Canada was able to score such a big partnership without having any patent assets in the Edge Computing Patent Forecast® sector is due to its large and dependable 5G network. In an edge computing relationship between web service hosts and telecommunication companies it is the responsibility of the web service hosts to provide the edge computing technology, which is why it is usually the web service hosts who have more of a presence in the Edge Computing Patent Forecast® sector. For the telecommunication companies their responsibility is to provide dependable 5G networks to support the edge computing network, which means its usually the telecommunication company with the larger more dependable 5G networks that get involved in edge computing partnerships and in this case its Bell Canada. It is still important for the telecommunication companies to hold some patent assets relating to edge computing as it might give them an advantage at gaining a valuable partnership.

With keeping these constant partnerships between web service hosts and telecommunications companies in mind and through analyzing the patent data, Patent Forecast® still predicts that Ericsson and Intel will form an expanded partnership to provide multi-access edge computing as a service to their clients.