Nokia today announced its entry into the data center market with the launch of the AirFrame solution set, billed as integrating the worlds of IT and telecommunications to create an answer for telco IT, and built for telcos running mobile virtual network functions within a cloud infrastructure.
What Nokia is bringing to market supports an architecture shift being seen in today’s data center requirements in order to bring this functionality closer to the edge of the network. As all functions seem to be moving closer to the edge, it stands to reason that data centers will enter the virtualized world. This announcement covers more than products. It offers the building blocks for customers to start with an idea; deploy products and then rely on Nokia Networks to support the solution.
The first step begins with a discussion with customers about their data center strategy, along with Nokia’s blueprint for solutions. Building on the architecture strategy are new server and switch products provided by Nokia:
- Cloud Server (including storage) – a two-socket rack-mount server, supporting Intel Xeon processors. Nokia said it offers more than a traditional x86 server and includes Nokia-specific enhancements designed to make it more efficient than existing x86-based servers to run telco applications. The AirFrame Server is said to be optimized for lowering data center operation cost with reduced energy consumption and provides high storage flexibility to create optimal storage solutions targeting virtualization and cloud computing.
- Cloud Switch – a Layer Two/Three Ethernet top-of-rack switch designed for infrastructure-as-a-service data center deployments for computing clusters. Nokia said the Cloud Switch has “very high port density as well as ultra-low latency characteristics making it ideal for demanding workloads.” The platform is said to support virtual machine mobility and enables network scaling across Layer Three subnets.
- Racking to house the required components.
- Global Services – a portfolio to support all phases of the cloud life cycle, from consultancy designed to ensure business drivers are realized to identifying business process changes that ensure successful service realization to holistic integration and support. Nokia also said the services team can manage and maintain the ongoing data center deployment.
The solution is billed as “5G Ready,” but what does that actually mean? Reduced latency and increased data processing throughput to be ready to support a 5G mobile network infrastructure deployment.
“Nokia Networks is changing the game in telco cloud,” said Marc Rouanne, EVP for mobile broadband at Nokia. “We are taking on the IT-telco convergence with a new solution to challenge the traditional IT approach of the data center. From the beginning, Nokia Networks has been a forerunner in telco cloud innovation. This newest solution brings telcos carrier-grade high availability, security-focused reliability as well as low latency, while leveraging the company’s deep networks expertise and strong business with operators to address an increasingly cloud-focused market valued in the tens of billions of euros.”
But what about the term AirFrame? I asked about it in the initial briefing provided by Nokia and wondered if there was an airplane reference in here somewhere. The analogy in the naming was about taking networks to the clouds and making those clouds fly. Hence my earlier “flying” reference.
It is interesting to see Nokia enter this part of the market and I wonder if there’s more to come in the data center infrastructure area going forward or even a foray into large enterprise? Just my personal musings on the subject.
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Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA for RCR Wireless News, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and security. Having experience as an operator, software and hardware vendor and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News.
