Virgin Media O2 Business unveiled a Nokia-powered portable 5G standalone (SA) private network package that’s the size of a carry-on airline bag. The carrier claims it’s the first such device to be commercially available in the United Kingdom.

The pint-sized private network package taps into Nokia’s enterprise connection–focused MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) platform and the vendor’s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC). The former, MXIE, includes compute, storage, networking and application management functions that run on the latter to provide central management.

MXIE basically acts as an on-premises edge platform for the management of operational technology services, including private networks. This also allows for enterprise data sovereignty management.

The Virgin Media O2 5G SA private network platform is the first to commercially integrate MXIE in the U.K., and allows the platform to support mission-critical applications. The carrier said the portable platform can quickly provide secure 5G connectivity for a set location.

The product is currently being used by Virgin Media O2 parent company Telefónica through its Wayra “innovation arm.” Wayra has been using the portable network to support customer trials of new applications tailored for a 5G environment.

The first application was with Mobilus Labs, which uses voice technology to allow industrial teams to communicate in loud environments. Wayra plans to extend availability to companies targeting virtual reality (VR) applications and IoT.

Nokia U.K. CEO Phil Siveter noted the DAC and MXIE platforms “help enterprises achieve their economic, environmental and operational goals in the most intuitive way. This private wireless network delivers on high resilience, performance and security as part of the OT edge, helping to accelerate enterprise adoption of OT transformation.”

Nokia’s private network growth has been on the back of its long-running DAC platform, which is targeted at industrial sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, ports, airports, utilities, mining and agriculture. The vendor earlier this year added its private 5G platform to its lab-as-a-service, allowing device vendors and enterprises to test interconnectivity on top of Nokia’s DAC and modular private wireless networks.

Nokia unveiled MXIE in late 2021 and, earlier this year bolstered the platform with new applications designed to allow users to better collect, analyze and secure information. The applications also take advantage of a private network partnership extension with Kyndryl.

The Virgin Media O2 launch furthers Nokia’s dominating presence in the private network market. Siveter stated in a press release tied to the Virgin Media O2 launch that the vendor counts more than 635 private wireless customers worldwide.

ABI Research recently reported more than 1,000 private cellular networks have been deployed worldwide, with Nokia rivals having claimed that vendor is one of the biggest players in the private network space.

ABI Research in that same report also noted that reporting of new private networks has slowed, but that it’s a good thing as it shows a rationalizing of the market.

“Enterprises are beginning to see the deployment of private cellular connectivity as a competitive advantage and, therefore, do not want to talk about it too openly, which is important as the market moves from the experimental phase toward commercializing private network deployments,” Leo Gergs, senior analyst for 5G markets at ABI Research, wrote.

He added, “the telco industry urgently needs to deliver on promises made to the enterprise community now. Otherwise, enterprise 5G will enter the history books as the technology that always overpromised and underdelivered.”