Nokia helps broadband builders to accelerate into the cloud era with altiplano platform

Nokia announced that it enhances its Altiplano cloud platform and launches Cloud Acceleration Services to accelerate SDN success for the global community of broadband builders and application developers.

The open, modular and fully programmable Altiplano platform allows leveraging the broadband network as a platform, making it easy to quickly connect and deploy new devices, applications, and services.

As a full-featured package or open platform, it serves each operator’s needs. Cloud Acceleration Services help build and maintain personalized SDN solutions, ensuring all network nodes - third party, virtual, and legacy – are structured correctly.

Moving to SDN and cloud is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for network builders to boost competitiveness with new levels of operational efficiency, scalability, and agility.

It allows evolution beyond closed hardware-based infrastructure towards software-defined platforms. Software-defined access networks (SDAN) bring flexible cloud attributes to the network, including IT-style programming, fast feature delivery, quick adjustments, and automation.

Network evolution towards cloud and platform operations is incremental and depends on the unique business, technological and operational needs of each operator.

Nokia’s new Cloud Acceleration Services are designed to simplify the network evolution by applying a three-step approach that allows operators to define the optimal path and pace towards open disaggregated access solutions:

Business and technology consulting services and modeling tools help quantify the operator-specific SDAN benefits and use cases.

System integration, automated testing services, and key assets like Nokia SDAN Multivendor Integration Centers and Migration Operations Centers bring the customized SDAN solution from drawing board to reality.

The cloud-native capabilities of the Nokia Altiplano platform, combined with Nokia’s System Integration approach and Nokia DevOps Automation Platform help operators test and quickly launch their new features and services.

Nokia also offers the Altiplano Developer Portal, with a software development kit (SDK) to easily integrate and fully control the connectivity of devices and applications.

This allows custom solutions with a mix of Nokia and third-party elements to be engineered. Operators also gain access to a virtual lab, where they can easily develop and test applications and services before deployment.

Under the Connected Partner Program, independent software vendors proactively integrate their OSS applications with Nokia fixed networks solutions to fast track integration efforts.

With the new 1RU Lightspan DF-16G fiber node and modular chassis Lightspan MX-6, Nokia offers a complete portfolio of SDN native nodes from large chassis-based systems and data-center-inspired pod designs to smaller stackable nodes and sealed/dense micro-nodes.

For operators with compatible ISAM MX-6 platforms, Lightspan MX-6 enables smooth evolution to SDN via a software upgrade.

Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said: “Our ambition is to bring cloud-based access to operators and be the partner of choice for system integration and advanced automation.

We have the platform, the ecosystem, and the expertise to help operators deploy disaggregated access networks. In fact, we already have more than 250 cloud-ready customer deployments in place around the world.

Jeff Heynen, Senior Research Director at Dell’Oro Group, said: “Software-defined access is quickly becoming the guiding principle for a growing list of major broadband providers around the world. Suppliers must demonstrate a multitude of capabilities to be chosen as a preferred partner.

Operators will give preference to flexible deployment approaches, so they can accommodate both new buildouts, as well as existing infrastructure, along with the needs of the developer community with open APIs and SDKs.”

The Altiplano platform can operate as a traditional network management system, as a full-featured SDN access domain controller, or as an open modular solution, offering selected tools and applications to control, visualize and optimize the fixed access network.

The Lightspan MX supports VDSL and G.fast technologies, powered by the Quillion chipset and new G.fast 212 MHz line cards, to deliver symmetrical gigabit services with best-in-class vectoring performance.