At the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia Networks will be expanding its telco cloud portfolio by launching its Nokia Cloud Security Director, and announcing the commercial availability of its Nokia Cloud Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Nokia Cloud Network Director to orchestrate virtualized network functions like EPC and VoLTE. The expansion also includes fully virtualized Operations Support System (OSS) and Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions.
The company said implementing network functionality on standardized processing platforms in a data center will transform operators much like smartphones and apps have changed mobile communications. New virtualized function can be added easily, enabling operators to benefit from state-of-the-art software capabilities immediately when they are released. The telco cloud model is also expected to bring new efficiencies. Nokia estimates that implementing OSS and CEM in a shared data center means that up to 30% less hardware is needed, which translates into lower capital and energy costs.
The Nokia Cloud EPC, which is expected to begin shipping in Q2/2015, promises scalability and flexibility to cope with growing traffic demand as well as automation to optimize the use of network resources.
The Nokia Cloud Network Director, which is expected to begin shipping in Q3/2015, is an ETSI NFV compliant orchestrator that will automatically deploy, configure, optimize and repair a set of virtualized network functions to simplify the deployment of services like VoLTE.
The Nokia Cloud Security Director, which will debut in Q4/2015,features multi-vendor capabilities that allow the operator’s security administrator to automatically deploy security policies and functions in cloud and hybrid networks.
Nokia’s virtualized OSS and CEM will be offered in several ways: as software only with the operator taking responsibility for infrastructure purchase; as software as a service (SaaS) hosted by Nokia Networks; or as a full system delivered by Nokia Networks, including software and infrastructure.
In addition, Nokia Networks is unveiling its architecture for highly scalable, flexible and efficient cloud-based radio access networks. The Nokia Radio Cloud enables baseband processing capacity is from almost anywhere in the network, such as an adjacent cell or a centralized data center, to where it is needed most for coordination and capacity. Nokia said this multi-layer approach supports distributed and centralized deployments, or a combination of both, using multiple fronthaul types, including Ethernet. This utilizes an operator’s existing radio access and transport asset more efficiently, avoiding incremental costs to build new infrastructure.
“This is the first radio cloud architecture that offers a layered approach with different deployment models to optimize performance by enabling basic capacity to be built near cell sites, and with peak capacity in the data center being redirected to follow traffic demand. Continuing the evolution from Nokia Single RAN and Nokia Centralized RAN, our Radio Cloud network architecture is a tremendous platform to prepare for upcoming 5G for core and radio,” stated Henri Tervonen, Vice President, Mobile Broadband Architecture, Nokia Networks.
