Nokia launches localised data centre solution for mobile networks
Mon 1 Jun 2015
Telecom hardware maker Nokia has today announced that it will be launching a data centre service for mobile network operators to help boost industry competition.
The Finnish firm said that it will provide a new localised cloud-based data centre offering, branded Nokia AirFrame Data Center. The service will run on an Intel platform and will enable mobile network providers to better cope with the rocketing demand for data and compete with internet giants such as Amazon and Google.
Network operators will be able to spread their data centre needs across their business, with customer data traffic managed locally driving speed of delivery. The local Nokia data centre products will feed back to centralised hubs for backup.
Nokia’s modular units can be installed alongside existing hardware, such as a pre-existing rack, or can be supplied as part of a pre-integrated Nokia rack.
“The way that networks are now being built means you have these big data centres hosting all of your core network applications and you end up with a fairly inefficient way of doing it, in which every bit of data that comes from your mobile phone has to be transported across the network to this data centre and then transported back out again,” explained Nokia networks executive Phil Twist.
“It is entirely practical to put these anywhere that you might put a base station, for example […] You can actually put the processing right to the edge [of the network],” he continued, meaning that mobile users will not experience as many delays while streaming online content or downloading emails.
Nokia has now entered the data centre arena in competition with other technology providers such as Hewlett Packard and Cisco. It will also join rival Ericsson who has also recently branched into the data centre market.
However, as Elisabeth Rainge of research group IDC notes, “Nokia’s announcement shows an openness that is distinct from similar approaches by Ericsson, HP and others.”
