Nokia announced on Monday that it will launch an Open Innovation Lab in Dubai, UAE, to drive regional innovation and accelerate the adoption of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for network automation and optimization in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
The initiative will also increase the regional focus of Nokia’s established global strategic collaborations with Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
The lab will focus on driving further innovation in the Cloud RAN space with Nokia’s technology partners, such as Dell and HPE, as well as working with market-leading hyperscalers and other ecosystem players. The Nokia anyRAN approach helps evolve Cloud RAN towards a solution, which will work alongside purpose-built RAN with feature performance consistency. This approach brings the flexibility of choice of technology suppliers and operating environments, meeting the expectations of operators and enterprises for openness and efficiency.
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Private wireless and industrial networks
The second area of focus will be on private wireless and industrial networks. The lab will showcase innovative Industry 4.0 use cases and industrial edge applications on Nokia’s market-leading MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) platform to help enterprises accelerate their transition to Industry 4.0 in the region.
The third area of focus will be on network intelligence. Nokia aims to accelerate the adoption of AI/ML solutions for network automation and optimization. The Nokia MantaRay solution portfolio for intelligent network management and automation will be showcased and used in this lab.
Partners’ comments
Mikko Lavanti, Senior Vice President, Mobile Networks at Nokia, MEA, said: “We are excited to launch our Open Innovation Lab in MEA, reaffirming our commitment to drive innovation with our partners in key future technology areas, including Dell and HPE. This collaboration will accelerate the adoption of new technologies in our region. We can help both operators and enterprises enhance network efficiency and performance as well as unlock new monetization opportunities.”
Tibor Fabry-Asztalos, Senior Vice President, Product Development Engineering, Telecom Systems Business, Dell Technologies, said: “The future of the telecommunications industry is open, backed by an ecosystem of partners collaborating to help network operators digitally transform and quickly bring innovative and revenue-generating solutions to market. Nokia’s Cloud RAN capabilities, combined with Dell’s cloud-native infrastructure and software in the new Open Innovation Lab, will accelerate the adoption and performance of open network architectures and create new opportunities for network automation and efficiency.
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What is Cloud RAN?
Cloud RAN is a term that refers to the separation of the radio access network (RAN) functions from the hardware platform and the virtualization of the RAN software using cloud technologies. Cloud RAN enables more flexibility, scalability, and efficiency in deploying and managing RAN networks, as well as opening up new possibilities for innovation and collaboration. Cloud RAN can be implemented in different ways, depending on the location and type of the compute platform, the network architecture, and the level of openness and disaggregation. Some of the benefits of Cloud RAN include:
Reduced capital and operational costs by using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and cloud-native software
Improved network performance and quality by optimizing resource allocation and load balancing
Enhanced service delivery and user experience by enabling faster deployment and upgrade of RAN features and applications
Increased network agility and innovation by leveraging cloud-native tools and processes, as well as open interfaces and ecosystems
Some examples of Cloud RAN solutions are:
Ericsson Cloud RAN, which is a cloud-native software solution that handles compute functionality in the RAN. It supports anyRAN, which is an approach that allows cloud RAN to work alongside purpose-built RAN with feature performance consistency.
Nokia AirScale Cloud RAN, which is a cloud-native solution that disaggregates RAN hardware and software. It supports different deployment scenarios, such as centralized, distributed, or hybrid cloud RAN, as well as open interfaces and platforms.