Finnish telecom giant-Nokia has reportedly joined forces with Google Cloud Platform with an aim to enable the companies to jointly develop and offer cloud-native network functions such as 5G edge services and a 5G core offering to the mobile network operators.

For the record, the agreement is followed three months after Nokia decided to shift its on-premises IT infrastructure to Google Cloud and blend various technological platforms and services into an integrated system, as per the needs of the companies.

In a statement by Google, the recent partnership will simplify interfacing with Google Cloud and Nokia Systems for customers. The agreement will also offer pre-integrated solutions from both the companies, that will render a time-to-market advantage and a seamless path to 5G for communication service firms.

Notably, along with Anthos that will serve as a platform to allow operators to move workloads to the network edge across private and public clouds, Google Cloud is also expected to extend technologies in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and analytics.  

On the other hand, Nokia will provide its IoT platform, voice core, network exposure function, cloud packet core, signaling, data management, and 5G core.

According to a statement furnished by Nokia and Google Cloud, the two are collaborating to validate cloud-based network functions and jointly work on developing advanced 5G technologies to increase the reliability and ensure simplified deployment of 5G connectivity and services offered by the operators.

George Nazi, VP of Telecom, Entertainment, and Media, Google Cloud, was reportedly quoted stating that the collaboration with Nokia will unlock new opportunities for various network operators that are focusing on helping enterprises design new services at the edge through 5G connectivity and cloud-based applications.

Seemingly, while Nokia is turning to Google Cloud for its cloud needs, the vendor’s software arm in November 2020, partnered to move its research and development data centers to HP’s GreenLake. At that time, Nokia claimed that it turned to GreenLake to power a consumption-based infrastructure as a private cloud for its R&D capabilities. 

Source Credit: https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/nokia-links-cloud-native-5g-services-with-google-cloud/2021/01/