Nokia moves into OPNFV testing with a new Lab and dedicated cloud platform

• AirFrame Data Center system made available for OPNFV testing
• Collaboration with Intel to supply latest Xeon processors and Solid State Drives
• Enables OPNFV developers to test open source NFV components
• Supports interoperability testing across multiple sites

On the eve of the OPNFV event in Berlin, Nokia has announced that it is collaborating with Intel to make its carrier-grade AirFrame Data Center Solution hardware available for a new OPNFV Lab. The hardware can be used by the OPNFV collaborative open source community to accelerate the delivery of cloud-enabled networks and applications.

The Lab was also announced by Nokia at the OPNFV Summit and is intended to be an important testbed for NFV developers to accelerate the introduction of commercial open source NFV products and services. It will enable developers to test carrier-grade NFV applications for performance and availability while supporting operators’ preferences for non-proprietary, high-performing, and interoperable NFV platforms.

Intel is providing its Intel Xeon processors and Intel Solid State Drives to enable communications service providers to test OPNFV projects on the latest server and storage technologies. The Lab will enable the development and continuous integration of OPNFV releases to meet the so-called “carrier grade” requirements of network operators.

“The AirFrame Data Center Solution is designed from the ground up to meet telco requirements, and therefore is a perfect platform for the OPNFV to test new NFV software components destined for operator cloud networks,” said Antti Romppanen, Head of Product and Technology Management for Datacenter and Cloud Infrastructure at Nokia. “Nokia Cloud Stack Infra for Realtime (NCIR) applications like Radio Cloud is optimised to be fully supported in OPNFV and AirFrame on hardware and software layers. Nokia and Intel collaborated closely on the AirFrame solution and the two companies are well positioned to optimise the performance of the whole OPNFV stack.”

Nokia says its AirFrame Data Center is a flexible and distributed cloud architecture capable of delivering the ultra-low latency and massive data processing requirements that will be required for future 5G services. Providing the OPNFV community with open access to the latest commercial server technology will enable operators to accelerate the development of 5G network architectures at the desired economies of scale.

“We welcome Nokia joining the OPNFV Pharos federation of distributed Labs,” said Morgan Richomme, NFV Network Architect for Innovative Services, Orange Labs. “NFV interoperability testing is very challenging, so the more labs we have, the better it will be collectively for the industry. This cutting edge lab will be very helpful to define and tune our test suites and continue working on telco cloud KPI definition. We also believe it will allow us to quickly perform multi-site tests.”

The TelecomTV team is currently in Berlin filming at the OPNFV event. If you’re there, do stop by and say hello. We should have our latest series of NFV interviews and panel discussions ready to view on the site within a couple of weeks.

“This year’s Summit is the perfect culmination of momentum we’re seeing not just in Europe, but across the globe, which is helping to transform the way networks are designed,” said Heather Kirksey, Director of OPNFV. “I’m delighted over the commitment demonstrated by our growing community, as individuals and organizations with the common goal of collaborating and strengthening the adoption of open source NFV across the industry come together.”