Nokia has entered into a partnership with Google Cloud to make new, cloud-based 5G radio products. The two companies will collaborate on joint products combining Nokia’s Radio Access Network (RAN), Open RAN, Cloud RAN (vRAN) and edge cloud technologies, with Google’s edge computing platform and applications ecosystem. The companies will together develop products and use cases to solve key 5G scenarios for businesses worldwide.
The initial collaboration, which is already underway at Nokia’s Espoo headquarters, will pursue a number of different workstreams. The first, focused on Cloud RAN, will integrate Nokia’s 5G vDU (virtualised distributed unit) and 5G vCU (virtualised centralised unit) with Google’s edge computing platform, running on Anthos. Nokia’s 5G standalone network with vCU and 5G core will also be tested on Google Cloud Anthos platform as a cloud-native deployment.
Both Nokia and Google Cloud will continue to develop the scope of these initial collaborations by exploring new technologies and products that can enhance their joint 5G Cloud RAN and edge cloud products.
Recognising the performance demands of a 5G network, Nokia will also work to certify its Nokia AirFrame Open Edge hardware with Anthos. Nokia AirFrame Open Edge distributes computing capacity into the edge of the network and drives the implementation of Cloud RAN, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), as well as 5G.
