Nokia Networks and Red Hat are to jointly bundle Nokia Networks’ virtualized  applications and cloud management with Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux OpenStack platform. The upshot, they claim, will be data centers that are cheaper to run but roll out services much quicker.

“Mobile telcos will be able to provision services in minutes rather than months,” said Darrell Jordan-Smith, director of global telecoms sales at Red Hat (below).

Network function virtualization
The collaboration will see Nokia virtualized core network functions and management systems run on Red Hat’s OpenStack technology, with commercial joint solutions expected to be available in early 2015.
 
Though OpenStack is relatively new there are several proofs of concept in data centers of global telecom providers, said Jordan-Smith. “Network function virtualization (NFV) is creating new types of content delivery networks and dynamic mobile datacenters, which are creating dramatic improvements in the telecom industry. Many companies are still in the early stages but network function virtualization has seen a significant amount of growth in data centers in the past two years,” said Jordan-Smith.

Open source system will help telcos create a more flexible infrastructure, cut operating costs and give them cheaper options for buying equipment and software, he predicted. It will help to speed up projects significantly too, he said.

“Service providers and mobile operators can get new infrastructure and new apps infrastructure components and launch new apps to mobile users quicker and cheaper than they could with proprietary systems. Projects that took months now take minutes and there are no more massive physical infrastructure changes needed across globally located datacenters,” said Jordan-Smith