Verizon Business and IBM inked a deal to jointly develop a new suite of enterprise edge products, aiming to address the industrial segment by combining their respective network and processing capabilities.

They plan to combine Verizon’s 5G, edge compute and IoT technologies with IBM’s expertise in AI, multi-cloud computing, asset management and connected operations.

Initial products will focus on mobile asset tracking and management, though the pair are also targeting applications covering industrial automation, worker safety, predictive maintenance and product quality.

In a statement Verizon Business CEO Tami Erwin explained the partnership is “all about enabling the future of industry in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” and helping companies “increase automation, minimise waste, lower costs, and offer their own clients a better response time and customer experience”.

IBM recently unveiled new edge computing products aimed at operators and enterprises, and subsequently announced plans to demonstrate industrial use cases in a trial with Singapore-based operator M1.