- New ultra-compact solution will leverage virtualized ORAN capable baseband on MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) to optimize efficiency and cost of 5G connectivity at small industrial facilities.
- FlexRAN software and 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor with Intel vRAN boost enable implementation of radio baseband function on Nokia’s MX Industrial Edge (MXIE).
- First instantiation of the solution will be demonstrated at Intel’s booth at MWC2024 and will be integrated in the recently announced DAC Private Wireless compact solution, further helping decrease the footprint.
Nokia today announced the collaboration with Intel to enable running virtual baseband capabilities on Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), leading to even more accessible private wireless solution for small enterprise sites. Enterprise Edge RAN capabilities ensure that small-scale industrial deployments will have access to even more compact 5G private wireless solution and a solution that also reduces cabling and installation requirements.
By leveraging Enterprise Edge RAN in the DAC private wireless solutions, Nokia will be able to further reduce the footprint of DAC PW compact by running the baseband processing function as an application on its on-prem MX industrial edge powered by Intel’s 5G enabling technologies, including 4th gen Xeon processors with vRAN Boost and FlexRAN software.
The MXIE, integral part of Nokia’s private network solutions, brings a full industrial digitalization platform giving small enterprise customers access to a large catalog of digitalization enablers from leading third parties in the OT domain.
Enterprise customers can tap a full range of innovative third-party industrial applications as well as Nokia’s own DAC Wi-Fi, which allows Wi-Fi and 5G to operate together in the industrial premises. Customers can also benefit from MX BOOST to aggregate Wi-Fi and 5G together for enhanced performance and reliability, and the newly launched MX Workmate and Nokia Team Comms, both supporting and empowering connected workers.
Enterprise Edge RAN will also enable end customers to maintain access to wide spectrum band support and efficient radio resource utilization while getting the benefits of a distributed radio base transceiver station (BTS) architecture. With private wireless networks often needing to tap into less common spectrum bands and more 5G bands being specified by 3GPP, this vRAN architecture also enables customers to have more options and integrate ORAN-capable third-party radio units to further increase the DAC PW solutions’ global reach.
The DAC Industrial-grade, Compact Private 5G solution with Enterprise Edge RAN capability will continue to deliver ease of scaling, typical of the DAC solution family. As the sites grow and more use cases are added, enterprises will be able to easily add more radios and/or more capacity by complementing the solution with a high-capacity discrete baseband unit such as Nokia’s AirScale.
Stephan Litjens, Vice President of Enterprise Campus Edge Solutions at Nokia, said: “With Nokia leadership in private wireless networks and Intel’s 5G technology , we are very excited to bring high performance private wireless to even more industrial sites. By virtualizing the radio baseband processing we are increasing resource utilization of the MX Industrial Edge and ensuring small scale deployments have access to our high performance, highly reliable 5G private wireless connectivity solutions.”
Dan Rodriguez, Corporate VP and GM Network and Edge Solutions at Intel, said: “Introducing 5G capabilities into Nokia’s DAC solution opens opportunities for businesses across a wide range of industries. With solutions like this, 5G connectivity can be more widely utilized in small deployments to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation.”
