Nokia launches Core Software-as-a-Service for 5G

Nokia introduced Core SaaS for 5G for communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises deploying private 5G.

Nokia Core SaaS moves away from the legacy practice of deploying customized software that runs on private infrastructure.  Instead, Nokia is proposing that CSPs and enterprises will consume its Core software, including 5G Packet Core, on demand through a subscription service that eliminates large up front capital expenditure and avoids the need to perform on-site software maintenance and updates.

Nokia Core SaaS begins with 5G Core services; trials are expected to commence shortly, and commercial availability is expected in the first half of 2023.

Fran Heeran, SVP & General Manager of Core Networks, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia, said: “Nokia Core SaaS changes the way core networks are built, deployed and run, with important customer benefits that include Network on demand, speed to market, and easy and fast scaling, in an affordable way. Nokia Core SaaS is not the core network we’ve known for decades, but something entirely different. And this reflects the technology leadership Nokia continues to deliver to the market.”

Nokia notes that in the 5G Standalone Core market it now has over 70 CSP customers around the world. In addition, 25 of the top 40 CSPs by revenue rely on Nokia Core network products.

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2022/11/09/nokia-launches-core-software-as-a-service-for-5g-expanding-its-saas-offerings-reach/

DISH Wireless employs Nokia 5G Standalone Core on AWS

Thursday, June 30, 2022  Dish, Nokia  

Nokia confirmed that DISH Wireless is the Nokia 5G Standalone Core on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud. Nokia said its cloud-native software allows DISH to cost effectively manage its network and offer new enterprise and consumer 5G use cases in areas like Industry 4.0 and mission critical services quickly and securely, while fully adhering to Service Level Agreements.Raghav Sahgal, President of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, said: “This...

READ MORE

Nokia jumps into Software-as-a-Service for CSPs

Wednesday, November 17, 2021  Nokia  

Nokia is rolling out multiple Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) services for communication service providers (CSPs). The company is targeting a SaaS addressable market, comprised of CSPs and enterprises, with a value of $3.1 billion for the 2021-2025 period and an annual growth rate of approximately 25-30%. Nokia is in discussions with several CSPs around the world about using its SaaS services, including security.Nokia said the shift to SaaS reflects...

READ MORE

Google Cloud and Nokia announce Telco Cloud Partnership

Thursday, January 14, 2021  Google Cloud, Nokia, Telco Cloud  

Google Cloud and Nokia announced a global, strategic partnership focused on cloud-native solutions for communications service providers (CSPs), including a cloud-native 5G Core and a network edge for business services.Under this partnership, Google Cloud and Nokia will work closely to validate, optimize and evolve cloud-native network functions, and the two companies will also co-innovate new solutions that will help CSPs deliver 5G connectivity...

READ MORE

Nokia collaborates with AWS on Cloud RAN

Monday, March 15, 2021  AWS, Nokia  

Nokia announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to research and enable Cloud RAN (vRAN) and Open RAN technologies.The collaboration, which will be conducted at Nokia’s facilities, aims to develop innovative proof of concepts (PoC) to explore and enable Cloud RAN and related technologies. Nokia is pursuing a strategy of collaborating with AWS to extend the reach of its Cloud RAN technologies in support of 5G deployments and the development...

READ MORE

Read More

AWS opens in Zurich

Amazon Web Services officially opened AWS Europe (Zurich) Region.

With the launch of the AWS Europe (Zurich) Region, AWS has 90 Availability Zones across 28 geographic regions, with announced plans to launch 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, and Thailand. 

AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. The AWS Europe (Zurich) Region consists of three Availability Zones and is the seventh AWS Region in Europe. 

Availability Zones are located far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity, but near enough to provide low latency for high availability applications that use multiple Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security and is connected through redundant, ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers focused on high availability can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault tolerance. The launch of the AWS Europe (Zurich) Region will enable local customers with data residency requirements to store data securely in Switzerland, while providing customers with even lower latency across the country.

AWS also noted that it is planning to invest an estimated $5.9 billion (approx. 5.9 billion Swiss francs) in Switzerland during the next 15 years through the new AWS Europe (Zurich) Region. This investment includes capital expenditures on the construction of data centers, operational expenses related to ongoing utilities and facility costs, and the purchase of goods and services from regional businesses. 

https://aws.amazon.com/partners

Swisscom picks AWS as its preferred public cloud provider

Sunday, July 11, 2021  AWS, Cloud, Swisscom  

Swisscom has selected AWS as its preferred public cloud provider for its enterprise IT. Swisscom said its will use AWS to increase IT agility, drive operational efficiencies, and accelerate time to market for new information and communications technology (ICT) features and services. The carrier will migrate to AWS a wide range of core applications that power its enterprise resource planning, operational support system (OSS), business support...

READ MORE

Read More

DE-CIX opens Internet Exchange in Richmond, VA

DE-CIX officially opened its Richmond Internet Exchange in Virginia. 

DE-CIX Richmond features the company's Apollon interconnection platform technology. The facility offers multi-service interconnection. Services that can be booked through DE-CIX Richmond include DirectCLOUD, offering direct access to leading cloud providers, direct access to the Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics software-as-a-service clouds through the Microsoft Azure Peering Service, further enterprise solutions such as Closed User Groups, and more. Directly connected to DE-CIX New York – the 5th largest IX in the US, achieving more than a terabit per second of traffic at peak times – DE-CIX Richmond provides connected networks access to content and networks that cannot be accessed anywhere else in the mid-Atlantic. DE-CIX Richmond also provides diverse access to content for networks across the region, an option which is being taken up by companies needing real-time access to their data, such as in the AdTech sector. 

DE-CIX Richmond is a standalone platform powered by Nokia, with direct access available from EdgeConneX, QTS Richmond, and Pixel Factory data centers. 

DE-CIX Richmond offers connectivity between Richmond and the operator’s other North American IXs in New York, Dallas, Phoenix, and Chicago. Together, the five IXs make up the largest carrier and data center neutral interconnection ecosystem in North America, covering the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southwestern (East and West) regions. Customers connected to the DE-CIX North America interconnection ecosystem are also able to connect to DE-CIX’s IXs across the Atlantic.

“We are thrilled to bring our platform to this very important market, supporting the further digital transformation of Virginia,” comments Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. 

https://www.de-cix.net/en/locations/richmond

Read More

Nokia selects Keysight for 6G sub-Terahertz testbed

NOKIA Bell Labs has selected Keysight’s sub-Terahertz (THz) test bed to verify the performance of 5G advanced and 6G transceiver (TRX) modules. 

Modules to be tested use the radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) technology, including power amplifiers, transceivers, and antennas on a glass substrate, needed to support the extreme data throughput and reliable backhaul transmission requirements of 5G advanced and 6G.

NOKIA selected Keysight technology to accelerate research and development critical to supporting 5G-Advanced and 6G use cases that leverage millimeter wave (mmWave) and sub-terahertz frequency spectrum to wirelessly transmit large amounts of data across short distances. 

Keysight’s 6G test bed was chosen to verify, under both linear and nonlinear conditions, the performance of TRX modules, power amplifiers, and antennas. Nokia designed these network infrastructure components by leveraging complex modulation technology and spectrum in D-Band (110 GHz to 170 GHz) and E-Band (60 GHz to 90 GHz).

Peter Vetter, NOKIA Bell Labs Core Research President said: “Working with Keysight enables us to make significant progress in developing next generation wireless technology. Cross-industry collaborations are important in co-innovating technology that merges physical, digital, and human domains to create immersive experiences that support meaningful interactions.”

Giampaolo Tardioli, Vice President for 6G and Next Generation Technology at Keysight said: “Keysight is pleased to work with NOKIA Bell Labs to advance the development of wireless communications technology and further metrology standards for sub-terahertz frequencies. Our partnership with NOKIA to design technology across multiple domains supports our common goal of realizing sustainable solutions that underpin a ubiquitous connectivity fabric built on 5G-Advanced and 6G communications.”

Shahriar Shahramian, RFIC & Packaging Lab Leader at NOKIA Bell Labs said: “NOKIA Bell Labs relies on Keysight’s design, validation, and optimization solutions, as well as measurement science expertise, to reach the levels of performance necessary to fulfill the promise of many 6G use cases. Keysight’s 6G sub-THz test bed enables Nokia to verify error vector magnitude (EVM) performance, which is foundational to high data throughput in TRX modules that support higher-order modulation formats.”

Read More

China Telecom, SingTel and partners agree on Asia Link Cable

China Telecom Global, Globe Telecom, DITO Telecommunity (Philippines), Singtel, and Unified National Networks (Brunei) reached an agreement to invest about $300 million for a submarine cable system in Southeast Asia. 

The planned Asia Link Cable (ALC) will be approximately 6,000-kilometer in length, connecting Hong Kong SAR, China and Singapore as its trunk, with branches into the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam and Hainan, China. 

It will have a minimum eight fiber pairs in the system, with 18 Tbps/Fiber Pair minimum trunk design capacity. An open cable system architecture is adopted for ALC, enabling Parties to select and maintain independent line terminal equipment that would suit their customer requirement.

HMN Technologies has been selected as the system supplier and is expected to complete the construction of ALC by the third quarter of 2025.

Executive Vice President of CTG, Mr. Wu Xiaolei stated, "In the Digitalisation Era, Asia Link Cable (ALC) is critical for connecting and creating value for our customers, especially in Asia. We are aiming to achieve a more sustainable environment and community as well as enhancing the efficiency in our communication processes, by building strong and reliable undersea cables around the world. CTG takes pride in playing an essential role in developing and promoting cloud and network integration. We welcome different service providers or industry partners in this endeavor, in the hopes that we can better serve our customers. With this cable, CTG will provide greater value to this community of partners, service providers, and customers, and achieve success together."

ALC Co-Chair, Mr Alan Tan (Singtel) said, "We started planning and designing the ALC cable more than two years ago at the onset of the pandemic, having anticipated the inevitable growth in high-definition content consumption, trade and innovation in this region. Despite the challenges presented by safe management restrictions, we managed to come up with a system that will help meet the evolving needs of consumers and enterprises and boost local economies today and in the near future."

CEO of HMN Tech, Mr. Mao Shengjiang commented, "It is a great honor for HMN Tech to team up with the global leading telecom operators to provide innovative turnkey subsea cable solution for the ALC System. This new cable system will provide new impetus for the ALC consortium to establish digital and intelligent networks in Asia and around the world."

Read More

IBM unveils 433-quantum bit processor

IBM unveiled its "Osprey" 433-quantum bit (qubit) processor, more than tripling the 127 qubits on the IBM Eagle processor unveiled in 2021. 

"The new 433 qubit 'Osprey' processor brings us a step closer to the point where quantum computers will be used to tackle previously unsolvable problems," said Dr. Darío Gil, Senior Vice President, IBM and Director of Research. "We are continuously scaling up and advancing our quantum technology across hardware, software and classical integration to meet the biggest challenges of our time, in conjunction with our partners and clients worldwide. This work will prove foundational for the coming era of quantum-centric supercomputing."

IBM also announced a number of quantum partnerships including Bosch, Vodafone, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, and Swiss innovation campus uptownBasel.

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-11-09-IBM-Unveils-400-Qubit-Plus-Quantum-Processor-and-Next-Generation-IBM-Quantum-System-Two

Read More

Xanadu raises $100 million for photonic quantum computing

Xanadu, a start-up based in Toronto, announced US$100 million in Series C financing to advance its photonic quantum computing.

Founded in 2016, Xanadu's photonic approach to building quantum computers leverages of modern chip manufacturing facilities, the application of optical components developed by the pre-existing telecommunications industry and the use of fibre optics to network photonic chips together. The copmany also leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software library for quantum computing and application development.

Canada's largest growth equity firm, Georgian, led the round with participation from Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Forward Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, along with previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Capricorn, BDC Capital, and Tim Draper. To date, Xanadu has raised $250M USD, bringing the company valuation to $1B USD.

"The continued support from top-tier investors in this uncertain economic climate is a testament to the belief in our exceptional team, our photonic technology, and our ability to execute," said Xanadu founder and Chief Executive Officer, Christian Weedbrook.

"These achievements have fostered the growth of the quantum community and enabled researchers and developers globally to access the most cutting-edge computational tools to create new algorithms that will eventually solve real-world problems, such as next generation battery development, a highly strategic area for Volkswagen Group's NEW AUTO strategy," said Dr. Arne-Christian Voigt, Future Research Volkswagen AG.

https://www.xanadu.ai

Read More

Optus to deploy Nokia for optical transport for Melbourne-to-Sydney

Optus will deploy Nokia’s IP and optical network solution, including 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS), to upgrade the existing long-haul network covering a distance of 1,200 km between Sydney and Melbourne. 

The new network will transport data at rates between 19.2 Tbps and 28.8 Tbps per fiber pair, providing unprecedented data center interconnection (DCI) capacity.

As part of the agreement, the new long-haul network will support the transport of 400GbE services over 400G/600G optical channels. Optus will have the ability to seamlessly upgrade the new long-haul infrastructure solution to support future services, such as 800GbE transport services. The implementation is based on fifth generation PSE (PSE-V) which will support 400G capacity and 600G over some routes, allowing Optus to effectively maximize the capability of its fiber infrastructure.

John Castro, Vice President of Wholesale and Satellite at Optus, said: "Building a world-class long-haul network between two major economic hubs, Sydney and Melbourne, reiterates our commitment to provide the best-in-class connectivity to our enterprise and wholesale customers. We are excited by the optionality this affords Optus, in being able to seamlessly upgrade our network to service the future demands for 600G and 800G transport services. Nokia's solution helps address the growing demands for more capacity and allows us to better service our customers and the market more broadly.”

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2022/11/07/nokia-and-optus-to-launch-high-speed-ultra-low-latency-long-haul-network-between-sydney-and-melbourne/

Read More

Vodafone to divest stake in Vantage Towers to GIP and KKR

Vodafone formed a joint venture with a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and KKR to hold and manage Vodafone’s 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers AG.

Vodafone will contribute its shares in Vantage Towers into the JV by way of a capital increase against new JV shares. The Consortium will obtain a shareholding in the JV of up to 50% by acquiring JV shares from Vodafone for cash.

The deal has a valuation of €32.0 per share, a premium of 19% to Vantage Towers’ 3 month volume-weighted average share price and a multiple of 26x adjusted EBITDAaL for the 12 month period ended 31 March 2022.

Nick Read, Vodafone Group Chief Executive said: “This is a landmark moment for both Vodafone and Vantage Towers. This transaction successfully delivers on Vodafone’s stated aims of retaining co-control over a strategically important asset, deconsolidating Vantage Towers from our balance sheet to ensure we can optimise its capital structure and generate substantial upfront cash proceeds for the Group to support our priority of deleveraging. We are excited to partner with GIP and KKR, both world-class investors who bring significant expertise in digital infrastructure and share our long-term vision for Vantage Towers as we collectively take the business to the next stage of its growth.”

In parallel with this announcement, the JV has announced today that it will make a voluntary takeover offer (“VTO”) for the outstanding Vantage Towers shares held by minority shareholders pursuant to Section 10 of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act. 

https://www.vodafone.com/news/corporate-and-financial/vodafone-enters-co-control-partnership-gip-and-kkr-vantage-towers

Vodafone advances plan to spin-off tower business

Wednesday, February 24, 2021  Towers, Vodafone  

Vodafone took another step toward spinning off its tower business as an independent business by completing its nomination of directors to a Supervisory Board.The Supervisory Board of Vantage Towers will comprise nine members, led by independent Chairman Dr. Rüdiger Grube. The Supervisory Board will bring deep expertise in the towers sector and across the telecommunications industry, strong operational and M&A experience, together with high standards...

READ MORE

Read More

Omantel deploys 400GbE DCI service with Ciena

Oman Telecommunications has launched a 400GbE DCI service utilizing Ciena's Data Center Interconnect solution. 

Omantel’s 400GbE DCI service runs on Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics and is managed by the Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. The Ciena solution gives Omantel the ability to deploy 100G and, for the first time, 400GbE DCI connectivity over wavelengths up to 800 Gbps to accommodate increasing network traffic.

“Our vision is for Oman to be the leading gateway to the region and beyond. We are bringing this mission to life, and a recent example is our new 400GbE data center interconnect service that we developed with Ciena. At Omantel, considering the numerous benefits on technical, commercial and social levels, we acted upon a clear strategy for data centers by partnering with Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company, to launch MC1, the premier carrier-neutral data center in MENA. We are now taking the next step by introducing an innovative new DCI service, the first of its kind in the region,” said Sohail Qadir, Vice President of Wholesale at Omantel.

He added, “Crucially, we were able to launch the service sustainably—without deploying additional platforms—doubling wavelength transmission capacity from 400G to 800G and improving overall fiber capacity leveraging our existing footprint. What this means for our customers is faster delivery of on-demand cloud applications and content with the highest quality.”

Oman Australia Cable nears completion

Saturday, April 30, 2022  Subcom, Subsea  

The final cable landing for the 10,000km Oman Australia Cable (OAC) was completed in Barka, Oman, marking a major milestone for the project.OAC, which is now expected to be ready for service in July 2022, is set to become the only undersea cable to avoid the notorious Malacca Straits and is Australia’s first express undersea cable to EMEA, improving connectivity and resiliency between the regions.SUBCO’s Founder Bevan Slattery said “I am incredibly...

READ MORE

Omantel deploys Ciena's 800G coherent optical

Monday, October 25, 2021  Ciena, Oman  

Oman Telecommunications has deployed Ciena  WaveLogic 5 Extreme 800G coherent optical technology to connect data centres, submarine cable landing stations and telecom exchanges in various regions across the Sultanate.Specifically, Omantel is using Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) programmable 800G technology over a 6500 reconfigurable line system leveraging optical control plane for improved resiliency. Ciena says WL5e provides a step-function...

READ MORE

Read More