Intel has acquired private 5G network provider Ananki, a startup created from the non-profit Open Networking Foundation (ONF) to focus on the commercialization of private 5G services based on open-source network technologies.
Following its spin off from the ONF, Ananki has been delivering software-defined private 5G purpose built for Industry 4.0, leveraging the foundation’s open-source Aether, SD-RAN, SD-Fabric and SD-Core projects, “meld[ing] them together into a commercial offering that is delivered as a SaaS [software as a service], making private 5G as easy to consume as Wi-Fi for enterprises.”
Ananki provides several products through a subscription-based service, including a SaaS-based 5G software stack, small cell radios, SIM cards and a dashboard for monitoring and analyzing network activity.
Ananki’s SaaS model appears to be a good fit for the new direction for Intel’s new “software-first” approach to networking. The chipmaker’s CEO Pat Gelsinger commented previously that the company is looking to create additional revenue opportunities by establishing new software services.
“We’re going to find more ways to deliver, and some of those will just be SaaS services…[Some of them will be] enabling services. Some of them will be paid-for services, and in other cases, hey, we’re just going to have more software products,” he told CRN.
While Intel has remained oddly quiet about the latest news — instead acknowledging only that the ONF’s dev unit will join its Networking and Edge Group — the acquisition was confirmed on LinkedIn by Guru Parulkar, who was co-founder and CEO of Ananki and executive director of the ONF.
“I am delighted to share that as of April 5th I have joined Intel Network and Edge (NEX) Business,” Parulkar posted. “Needless to say it is really exciting to be joining Intel especially NEX when it is active pursuing SDN, 5G, Edge, open source — something I and the team at ONF and Ananki have been really passionate about. Looking forward to pursuing this agenda with Intel’s broader ecosystem.”
