Nokia is collaborating with Intel to make its carrier-grade AirFrame Data Center Solution hardware available for an Open Platform Network Functions Virtualization (OPNFV) Lab. The hardware will be used by the OPNFV collaborative open source community to accelerate the delivery of cloud-enabled networks and applications.
The Lab, announced by Nokia at the OPNFV Summit in Berlin, will be a critical testbed for NFV developers and accelerates the introduction of commercial open source NFV products and services. It enables developers to test carrier-grade NFV applications for performance and availability while supporting operators’ preferences for non-proprietary, high-performing, and interoperable NFV platforms.
Nokia is making its AirFrame Data Center Solution available as a public OPNFV Lab with the support of Intel, which is providing Intel Xeon processors and Intel Solid State Drives to give communications service providers the advantage of testing OPNFV projects on the latest server and storage technologies. The Lab will enable the development and continuous integration of OPNFV releases to meet the stringent requirements of carrier-ready networks.
Nokia said that the 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.
John Healy, General Manager, Network Function Virtualization Division, Intel
Now, communications service providers can test their virtualized network functions on the latest servers based on Intel® Xeon® processors and Intel® Solid State Drives in the open OPNFV lab environment.
Antti Romppanen, head of product and technology management, Datacenter and Cloud Infrastructure, Nokia
Nokia's 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.
