Nokia beefs up its packet microwave range for 5G

• Nokia is releasing two compact Split Mount solutions for 5G backhauling 
• The products are aimed at both Communications Service Providers and enterprises
• Its packet microwave range will be a handy assist as it goes after big private 5G network deals

Nokia has just announced another portfolio expansion. Its Wavence microwave transport product portfolio for 5G has been expanded to cover the full range of microwave use cases, including indoor, outdoor, short-haul, long-haul, E-Band and SDN. 

The products are aimed at both Communications Service Providers and enterprises and, being Nokia, that includes a focus on the private 5G wireless networks market. Nokia has been targeting that sector for years, believing the private 5G segment would become almost as important as the traditional macro service provider segment as companies aspired to take control of their local/private corporate high-speed networks in the interests of agility, security and cost effectiveness. 

Nokia recently won a contract in partnership with Verizon, its wireless service provider partner for private 5G in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Under that arrangement, Nokia provides the kit and software and Verizon provides the service provider expertise: The pair won their first large customer recently by signing up the Port of Southampton, part of the Associated British Ports (ABP) empire. Once that project is underway, Southampton will be the first UK mainland port with a private 5G network. 

With the Wavence additions, Nokia is releasing two compact Split Mount solutions for 5G backhauling enabled by new compact indoor units, which it claims are the smallest on the market. The units can also handle a wide temperature range (from -40 degrees to 65 degrees Celsius), and incorporate improved reliability and a reduced need for periodic maintenance, the company claims. 

Nokia says it’s also introducing a full outdoor nodal configuration which includes a new ultra-compact unit called a Networking Interface Module (NIM), which can be used equally for a new deployment or an upgrades to an installed base. As an upgrade, the NIM can be plugged onto a standard Ultra-Broadband Transceiver (UBT) to enhance its outdoor capabilities, offering multiple directions, multiple interfaces, and carrier aggregation. One NIM attaches to all UBT types, it claims. More information on the product range is available here. 

According to Giuseppe Targia, Nokia’s VP Mobile Networks Transport Business Unit, the “new products further enhance Nokia’s industry-leading Wavence portfolio and highlight our leadership in packet microwave and in both the short-haul and long-haul segment. Wavence’s full-packet architecture and its industry leading innovations both in E-Band and traditional bands are key to delivering effective 5G mobile transport.”