Nokia and telco Spark announced a partnership to prepare networks in New Zealand for future demands arising from the move to 5G, ultra-broadband and IoT services through upgrading the capacity, flexibility and agility of Spark's national core and backhaul IP/MPLS network.
Spark, which serves around 2 million residential customers as well as businesses, stated that it is committed to making New Zealand a leading country in the adoption of 5G, and noted it has experienced a ten-fold increase in network traffic following the introduction of its broadband over wireless service, which is based on a Nokia IP/MPLS network. As part of this effort, the operator plans to expand the capacity and flexibility of its transport network over the next two years in preparation for 5G.
The company noted that the adoption of 5G will also help to meet the national government goal of extending broadband services in rural areas, as well as helping it to reduce the costs of delivering broadband services.
The upgrade project with Nokia specifically covers a 3-year strategic partnership through which the vendor will supply advanced IP and optical networking equipment and software, including the new Nokia 7250 Interconnect Router R6 (IXR-R6)platform.
The 7250 IXR-R6 solution is designed to address key requirements relating to traffic growth and major architectural changes to support the transition towards 5G. The platform features terabit capacity and high-port density in a compact, ruggedised form factor. Nokia's 7250 IXR-R6 also offers security features and a range of interconnectivity options, including legacy SDH/SONET and latency-sensitive Ethernet for next-generation fronthaul interface (NGFI).
The 7250 IXR-R6 is designed to enable the cost-effective transport of latency-sensitive and 'bursty' traffic, making it suitable for the delivery of both ultra-broadband and future IoT-based services.
Nokia noted that this latest agreement with Spark follows the operator's launch of 200 Gbit/s per-wavelength connectivity utilising its PSS1830 Optical Transport Network platform last year. For that project, Spark deployed what was claimed as the country's first 200 Gbit/s per-wavelength production fibre link to connect its core network with its global gateway using Nokia's PSS1830 OTN.
