Nokia tapped top companies to help it tackle 5G open and cloud RAN, and private networks products, inking separate deals with Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft.
In a series of statements announcing the deals, Nokia president of Mobile Networks Tommi Uitto noted “open collaboration is key to the development of new and innovative high-value 5G use cases”. He said the company was “building an ecosystem of public cloud partners that will ultimately support our customers and help them to build compelling 5G use cases”.
The AWS deal involves determining how Nokia’s edge, cloud and open RAN products can be integrated with the cloud businesses’ infrastructure to accelerate 5G deployments. After testing Nokia’s virtualised distributed and centralised units with AWS’s cloud Outposts and Local Zones, the pair will build a proof-of-concept for an end-to-end product which can be used for real-world deployments.
Its deal with Google Cloud expands on an agreement targeting 5G core and edge products signed in January, broadening their focus to include joint development of open and cloud RAN products.
Nokia’s Microsoft arrangement involves combining the Finnish vendor’s multi-access edge compute, cloud and open RAN products with the software giant’s Azure Private Edge Zone to develop 4G and 5G private networks use cases for enterprises.
