The tie-up is intended to offer operators more options for cloud-native functions and applications as they move further into 5G and digital services.
Nokia claims this offers communication service providers (CSPs) extra deployment choices and faster time to service when rolling out 5G or digital services.
The company also says this is the next step in Nokia’s move to deliver cloud-native network functions and applications, enabled by the company’s Common Software Foundation (CSF).
“Whether for opex optimisation, on-demand capacity to optimise capex, quick time to market, or support of 5G and other edge compute applications, public cloud deployments of advanced network software are a critical new option for CSPs,” said Dana Cooperson, Research Director, Analysys Mason.
“Companies such as Nokia and AWS [Amazon Web Services] working together is a positive step in making this option a reality.”
AWS’ role
Since the start of the relationship in October 2017, AWS has played a role in Nokia Software’s modernisation efforts, spanning the development, delivery, and hosting services for its software infrastructure.
This began with putting network functions and applications into containers, in a unified way, using CSF, and then enabling CSF and Nokia containerised software deployment on AWS.
The first benefits of this collaboration include a CSF-based, cloud-native system for automating applications integration and customisation procedures rolled out on AWS in June 2019.
The system supports more than 1,000 of Nokia’s applications delivery engineers across the globe.
“Interest in AWS from the CSP market segment beyond IT workloads is growing rapidly,” said Matt Garman, Vice President of AWS Compute Services, Amazon Web Services.
“We are delighted to be working with Nokia and helping them leverage the power of AWS for their network infrastructure solutions and business and operational support applications.”
Applications on AWS
Nokia offers several applications on AWS, including customer experience, service fulfilment, and orchestration solutions.
Through this engineering collaboration, Nokia will prioritise 5G solutions including mobile core, network and service orchestration, and device management and operational support systems suites.
In future, all new Nokia Software cloud-native network functions and applications will be available on AWS upon release.
“Our Common Software Foundation continues to drive commercial value forward for our customers including choice of deployment options. CSF now enables all our cloud-native network functions and applications on AWS,” said Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software.
“And when we combine Nokia pre-engineered solutions with AWS deployment, CSPs will be able to commission a new 5G mobile core or provision a new service offering with the click of a button – meaningfully changing CSPs’ economics and operational time frames.”