In this vignette of The 5G Factor, Ron Westfall and Steve Clint Wheelock provide their perspective on Nokia’s new AI-infused AirScale portfolio raises Nokia’s O-RAN and Cloud RAN proposition and 5G Advanced readiness.
The discussion spotlighted:
Nokia Unveils Airscale Baseband Capabilities That Bring AI to Mobile Networks. Nokia launched baseband capacity cards powered by ReefShark SoC technology, including Levante for ultra-performance and Lodos for high-performance aimed at 5G Advanced capabilities, as well as the Ponente 5G Advanced baseband control card, Pandion Multiband Remote Radio Heads, Shikra outdoor & indoor small cells, and the MantaRay intelligent network management and optimization solutions portfolio using AI-driven MantaRay Energy to optimize energy consumption in mobile networks. We assess why the new AI-infused AirScale portfolio boosts Nokia’s O-RAN and Cloud RAN proposition and 5G Advanced readiness.
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Transcript:
Ron Westfall: Now next up is Nokia, now what else is going on out there in terms of leveraging AI capabilities? And Nokia recently unveiled a range of AI powered solutions to augment its AirScale baseband portfolio. Now these solutions will support mobile networks with AI, with the goal of enabling them to effectively match the exponential traffic growth and establish a sustainable network infrastructure that can offer again, better capacity and performance for all. Now from your view, Clint, what do you see that is attention grabbing about Nokia’s recent move?
Clint Wheelock: Yeah, I mean I’m looking at this story, Ron, I mean what I really found intriguing is the fact that Nokia’s newly introduced product suite here includes two 5G-Advanced baseband capacity cards, namely Levante and Lodos, and those are powered by the latest ReefShark SoC technology. Now Levante, which is a 4G, 5G capacity card, is designed to enable substantially larger site configurations than what was possible before. And reportedly it can reduce the power consumption also by about 60% and that’s pretty impressive. We’ve been sort of on the hunt for a number of years now for ways of reducing power consumption and network operations. And that is a, as you probably know and much of the audience probably knows that is one of the top OPEX items for any network operator. So that’s a substantial move.
So we talked about the first one. Now Lodos is also a 4G and 5G capacity card and it also provides some higher scalability and it can deliver around 30% lower power consumption. So that’s pretty impressive as well. Plus, saw the Nokia unveiled a new network management and optimization solution called MantaRay. And MantaRay is designed to use AI and machine learning capabilities to facilitate cognitive radio access network, or RAN, operations. This MantaRay portfolio solutions supports Nokia’s future platform for purpose-built RAN, cloud RAN and core network management. And with those AI and cognitive capabilities, it seems that this solution really sets the stage for advancing 5G standalone as well as some of the 5G-Advanced implementation, you had mentioned some of those connection points before, Ron.
Now Nokia also launched a ultra performance baseband control card Ponente, if I’m saying that right, which is capable-
Ron Westfall: Sound’s good to me.
Clint Wheelock: I’ve just seen it in writing, so sometimes you don’t know. But anyway, it’s an interesting name in any case, but unique. But that’s capable of delivering high speed site connectivity with throughput rates that are up to 100% higher. And now the solutions equipped with trusted platform module technology and like the other offerings, it also enables a migration to a 5G standalone architecture and 5G-Advanced technologies. And it can significantly lower power consumption again by around 80%, which of course is a huge contributor to environmental sustainability as well as the bottom line of the operators through that OPEX reduction as we were talking about before.
Ron Westfall: Yeah, those are all excellent points, Clint. And I see Nokia strengthening its radio portfolio for both cloud RAN and O-RAN by also introducing its Pandion multi-band remote radio heads. And in parallel with that, Nokia also launched Shikra, which hopefully I’m pronouncing correctly. And these are compact micro remote radio heads. And they’re basically designed for delivering greater capacity and coverage in street level environments where space is limited and certainly when to think of urban densely populated locations this is where this technology can make a key difference. And we all know that 5G is being deployed in these environments certainly already. But when it comes to 5G standalone, it will intensify all the more.
So, taken all together, what? We reviewed the Nokia solutions I anticipate or not only O-RAN and cloud RAN in compatible, but I see it assisting with the integration of the latest advancements in 5G that we touched on, certainly when it comes to the transition to 5G standalone. But also in terms of laying the groundwork for 5G-Advanced, which is around the corner in terms of already the development work that is going on. And so with this announcement, I believe Nokia boosts its R&D credentials across the entire 5G ecosystem and is taking AI to at least the next level within the 5G realm. And this is certainly a common theme that we’re seeing this summer. And so this is a way for Nokia to basically shine a spotlight on its AI credentials.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Nokia and Verizon Shine Spotlight on Key Private Wireless Use Cases: Transportation and Logistics
Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
He is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including a wide range of topics across software and services, infrastructure, 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.
Prior to his work with The Futurum Group, Ron worked with GlobalData Technology creating syndicated and custom research across a wide variety of technical fields. His work with Current Analysis focused on the broadband and service provider infrastructure markets.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
Clint brings over 20 years of market research and consulting experience, focused on emerging technology markets. He was co-founder and CEO of Dash Network, an integrated research and digital media firm focused on the CX market, which was acquired by The Futurum Group in 2022. He previously founded Tractica with a focus on human interaction with technology, including coverage of AI, user interface technologies, advanced computing, and other emerging sectors. Acquired by Informa Group, Clint served as Chief Research Officer for Informa’s research division, Omdia, with management and content strategy responsibility, formed by the combination of Tractica, Ovum, IHS Markit Technology, and Heavy Reading.
Clint was previously the founder and President of Pike Research, a leading market intelligence firm focused on the global clean technology industry, which was acquired by Navigant Consulting where he was Managing Director of the Navigant Research business.
Prior to Pike Research, Clint was Chief Research Officer at ABI Research, a New York-based industry analyst firm concentrating on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets.
Clint holds a Master of Business Administration in Telecommunications Management from the University of Dallas and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Washington & Lee University.
