SoftBank Corp. to Join ‘Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance’
Established by Niantic

SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) today announced that it will participate in the ‘Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance’^*1 established by Niantic, Inc. (“Niantic”), a US-based company that provides location-based information for games and more. With its joining the Alliance, SoftBank aims to provide sophisticated Augmented Reality (“AR”) experiences that utilize 5G technology.

SoftBank is the only Japan-based telecommunications carrier to have a partnership agreement with Niantic for three of the smartphone game titles developed and offered by Niantic—‘Ingress,’ ‘Pokémon GO’ and ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’—all of which utilize location-based information and AR technologies. SoftBank has conducted promotions that utilize these titles and optimized its network for related live events.

SoftBank will build MEC^*2 test environments that deliver sophisticated AR experiences by utilizing 5G. In cooperation with Niantic and other Niantic Planet-Scale Alliance members, SoftBank will verify specific use cases. For the MEC servers used in these use cases, SoftBank will utilize an edge platform solution from US-based MobiledgeX, Inc.

By fully utilizing the high-speed, high-capacity and low-latency characteristics of 5G communications and MEC technology, SoftBank aims to offer sophisticated AR experiences to customers.

[Notes]

1. *1
   The Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance brings together leading mobile networks and hardware manufacturers who are working together to accelerate the AR industry in its next stage of growth. For more information, please visit this website.
2. *2
   Multi Access Edge Computing (MEC): a technology that allows data processing to be done at locations near devices to optimize and accelerate communications

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