By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia

Nokia Monday announced that its Cloud RAN solution will be available commercially in 2024 following the successful completion of multiple trials worldwide with hardware vendors, webscale companies, and chipset manufacturers. Nokia’s anyRAN approach enables a fast transition to hybrid environments of Cloud RAN and purpose-built RAN, ensuring consistent performance and interoperability with common software and In-Line acceleration architecture. Nokia has also announced the launch of anyRAN for enterprise in partnership with Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft that will see the companies offer private wireless solutions to enterprise customers1.

Nokia has completed global trials with its ecosystem of industry partners to enable its customers to build future-ready Cloud RAN networks that remove complexity and ensure openness and flexibility. This means that mobile operators and enterprises can choose any server and cloud environment, including the Containers-as-a-Service (CaaS) layer, higher-layer processing architectures and associated server hardware providers without supplier lock-in.

Underpinning this is Nokia’s high-performance, energy-efficient In-Line acceleration architecture that seamlessly integrates with all leading cloud or server infrastructures. Nokia has already successfully performed end-to-end 5G data calls (Layer 3 calls) in multi-vendor setups. Nokia’s flexible anyRAN approach supports any purpose-built, hybrid or Cloud RAN environment, helping customers get their Cloud RAN services up and running much faster. 

Nokia’s anyRAN for enterprise offers more choice and flexibility for enterprises through collaboration with best-in-class system integrators and cloud core solution providers alongside providing Nokia’s AirScale radio access portfolio to suit their specific requirements. By pre-packaging these solutions together, mobile operators and enterprises will benefit from a faster deployment due to extensive interoperability testing with core suppliers. The collaboration will also enable Nokia to support core vendors’ networks and their ecosystems as well as provide access to new segments and markets. The move also aims to accelerate the adoption of 5G in the enterprise sector and support industries in their digital transformation.

President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, Tommi Uitto said: “Last year, we launched anyRAN to give our customers more flexibility with Cloud RAN and we have since made huge strides in making Cloud RAN a commercial reality by completing numerous pilots and trials with the wider industry. We are now extending our reach to private wireless by offering more choices on core with our industry partners. High-quality and reliable RAN solutions are essential for enterprises to support their mission and business-critical applications and enable business growth. The strength of our industry partnerships means we can drive efficiency, innovation, openness, and scale by jointly delivering competitive advantage to operators and enterprises embracing Cloud RAN.”