To regain reliability and operational control, Nokia IT moved toward a modern, automation-first fabric approach—prioritizing simplified operations, a “network as code” mindset, and predictable, testable changes using digital-twin validation. The objective was not just modernization, but a repeatable operating model that could scale globally across data centers and workloads.
In our latest report, Nokia’s Global Data Center Network Migration: From Legacy Complexity to Automated, Reliable Operations, completed in partnership with Nokia, Futurum Research examines Nokia IT’s brownfield migration approach and early production outcomes—consolidating onto a data center fabric built on Nokia switches, the SR Linux network operating system, and the Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform. The initial deployments delivered measurable results, including an approximate 80% reduction in network-related incidents, validating both the architecture and phased execution model.
In this report, you will learn:
- What drove Nokia IT’s transformation, including the operational risks of multi-vendor complexity and long outages
- The modernization principles Nokia used to guide design choices (simplicity, automation-first operations, global consistency)
- How digital-twin validation helps reduce “blast radius” uncertainty and enables safer, more predictable change management
- What Nokia learned from a phased, parallel-fabric migration approach—up to and including zero unplanned outages caused by the new network during migration
- The early operational outcomes and why they matter (incident reduction, fewer chronic disruptions, and more confident continuous changes)
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Author Information
Mitch Ashley is VP and Practice Lead of Software Lifecycle Engineering for The Futurum Group. Mitch has over 30+ years of experience as an entrepreneur, industry analyst, product development, and IT leader, with expertise in software engineering, cybersecurity, DevOps, DevSecOps, cloud, and AI. As an entrepreneur, CTO, CIO, and head of engineering, Mitch led the creation of award-winning cybersecurity products utilized in the private and public sectors, including the U.S. Department of Defense and all military branches. Mitch also led managed PKI services for broadband, Wi-Fi, IoT, energy management and 5G industries, product certification test labs, an online SaaS (93m transactions annually), and the development of video-on-demand and Internet cable services, and a national broadband network.
Mitch shares his experiences as an analyst, keynote and conference speaker, panelist, host, moderator, and expert interviewer discussing CIO/CTO leadership, product and software development, DevOps, DevSecOps, containerization, container orchestration, AI/ML/GenAI, platform engineering, SRE, and cybersecurity. He publishes his research on futurumgroup.com and TechstrongResearch.com/resources. He hosts multiple award-winning video and podcast series, including DevOps Unbound, CISO Talk, and Techstrong Gang.
