Nokia launches industry-first Edge Cloud data center solution for the 5G era, supporting industry automation and consumer applications

Nokia has launched the industry’s first Edge Cloud data center solution to meet the stringent and diverse low-latency data processing demands of Cloud RAN and advanced applications for consumers and industries. The Nokia AirFrame open edge cloud infrastructure expands the Nokia AirFrame portfolio to deliver a layered network architecture that optimizes performance and operator costs as they evolve their networks and prepare for 5G.

he AirFrame open edge cloud infrastructure has been developed for the 5G era, as the next generation wireless technology will create opportunities for operators to support advanced applications for consumers and industries, such as virtual and augmented reality video and real-time industry automation. Technologies such as Cloud RAN will be key to deliver on the 5G promise of ultra-low latency and massive data throughput, and will need to be supported by a highly efficient cloud infrastructure solution.

To balance costs and functionality, 5G will encourage operators to implement a layered cloud architecture. This will include centralized and regional data centers as well as high-processing capabilities deployed at the network edge – closer to where traffic is generated and where space is traditionally limited.

The Nokia AirFrame Open Edge server, which will begin shipping during the third quarter of 2018, extends the Nokia AirFrame data center solution portfolio to make these edge deployments a reality. Designed in an ultra-compact size for deployment even at base station sites, the Nokia AirFrame open edge server will meet the most stringent end-customer data demands. Nokia’s comprehensive portfolio of AirFrame data center solutions enables operators to optimize network resources and intelligently distribute workload across the network, based on the type of data traffic as well as latency and throughput needs.

The hardware solution is complemented with a real-time, Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV)-compatible, OpenStack-distribution built to run in small data centers while providing the performance and low latency required by the edge environment. In addition, Nokia cloud-wise services and Cloud Collaboration Hubs will help operators successfully plan and execute their edge cloud deployments.

Dimitris Mavrakis, Research Director at ABI Research said: “The requirement for edge computing in telecom networks is rapidly changing, as use case, application and 5G requirements continuously increase. Nokia’s AirFrame open edge cloud infrastructure distributes established AirFrame capabilities to the edge and offers a graceful introduction of edge computing. Its orchestration and feature compatibility with existing Nokia products will provide for a lower friction transition to a distributed environment.”

Dan Rodriguez, Vice President, Data Center Group; General Manager, Communications Infrastructure Division at Intel, said: “The edge cloud is an integral part of 5G network architecture, bringing more processing capabilities closer to where data is generated and consumed. Nokia’s new AirFrame open edge solution is built on Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, which offer the needed balance of compute, I/O and memory capacity for the edge cloud to work seamlessly across the wide range of workloads deployed on the edge. With AirFrame, Nokia and Intel are bringing the performance and capabilities of Intel architecture-based cloud data centers to the edge to deliver the optimal end user experience for 5G deployments including virtual reality, augmented reality and industrial automation.”

Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “The edge cloud will play an essential role in delivering the compute power required for 5G. By expanding our AirFrame and 5G Future X portfolio we can provide a network architecture that meets the needs of any operator and their customers. Used with the Nokia ReefShark chipset and our real-time cloud infrastructure software, the Nokia AirFrame open edge server will deliver the right decentralization of 4G and 5G networks. We can work with operators to ensure that data center capabilities are deployed exactly where they are needed to manage demands as they expand their service offering.”