If the SDN controller trials are a success, Vodafone and Nokia aim to deploy the technology more widely later this year
Vodafone has selected Nokia as its sole software-defined network manager and controller (SDN-M&C) provider for its multi-access fixed network. Currently, the companies are conducting joint proof-of-concept trials in Europe, with the intention of deploying the technology more widely later this year.
Vodafone has 143 million marketable Next Generation Network (NGN) broadband homes within its existing network. According to Nokia, the SDN management and control functions will simplify, automate, visualize, optimize and enhance the carrier’s broadband networks, and bolster its Vodafone’s network-as-a-platform (NaaP) and other customizable services.
“We are driving simplification and automation throughout our network and IT systems across Europe and Africa to further improve the customer experience and support the growing number of connected devices,” commented Gavin Young, head of the Fixed Access Centre of Excellence at Vodafone. “The last few years have proven that the resilience of economies depend[s] on our ability to quickly respond to changing societal needs. Nokia’s Altiplano solution will enable us to help our customers adapt to new developments even quicker.”
The Altiplano SDN-M&C solution will allow Vodafone to build a single-pane-of-glass controller to automate its network operations.
“Our SDN-M&C platform is built with openness in mind. Nokia’s SDN Controller platform provides open and standardized APIs and leverages open source where applicable. The result is our Altiplano Access Controller can manage and control any SDN-native, disaggregated, legacy and third-party equipment and is highly customizable to suit operator needs now and in the future. In addition to the rich set of built-in applications our customers can add their own or third-party applications to customize and further automate the network,” said Sandy Motley, president of Fixed Networks at Nokia.
Vodafone announced in September that it is working with Nokia and others to establish new, more open broadband standards. In slightly different news, but also more recently, the pair deployed a private LTE and 5G network to underpin “the world’s first marine-focused 5G testbed” in the UK port city of Plymouth, on the Devon coast, where is will be used to connect various IoT sensors, marine vessels and research equipment to drive innovation in the maritime and marine sectors.
