Nokia Networks announced on Monday that it will this year begin offering 5G-ready cloud-based data centres for network operators.
The AirFrame Data Center Solution, to be rolled out in the fourth quarter, will run on Intel's platform. So do data centre market products unveiled recently by Nokia’s main rival in the network gear business, Ericsson.
However, "Nokia's announcement shows an openness that is distinct from similar approaches by Ericsson, HP and others," says Elisabeth Rainge of US technology market research firm IDC.
Nokia’s localised service is aimed at helping operators to compete with the likes of Amazon and Google in providing internet services as mobile data traffic soars – and helping their customers to achieve faster mobile web operations.
The local data centres will be backed up by large centralised data centres. The local units will be delivered in pizza box-sized services, providing operators with ultra-dense computing power they can install alongside existing antennas and base station gear that connect callers in local areas to wider voice and data networks.
AirFrame should allow processing capacity to be shared by adjacent base station cell sites or a centralised data centre when part of the network becomes congested with mobile users.
"It is entirely practical to put these anywhere that you might put a base station, for example," says Phil Twist, Head of Portfolio Marketing at Nokia Networks. "You can actually put the processing right to the edge (of the network)", meaning mobile phone users will not get many of the delays they currently experience in watching video or downloading emails.
Chinese bid for HERE?
On Monday, Nokia forecast 40-percent annual global growth in mobile data traffic over the next decade.
Once the world’s biggest phonemaker, Nokia is now poised to become the world's number-two network equipment maker once it completes its takeover of French rival Alcatel-Lucent.
Also on Monday, Reuters reported that the Chinese Navinfo plans to make an offer for Nokia’s HERE mapping service. Nokia’s CEO and board chairman have stressed in recent months that the Finnish firm is in no hurry to sell the unit.