Nokia and Ericsson have announced a milestone collaboration aimed at significantly advancing the intelligent automation process in the fields of dedicated networks, Cloud RAN, and Open RAN.
According to the cooperation agreement, Ericsson will join Nokia’s SMO (Service Management and Organization) marketplace platform, which aims to empower communication service providers (CSPs) and partners to build, integrate, and deploy automated applications in an open multi vendor ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Nokia will also join the Ericsson rApp ecosystem. This ecosystem is an open and mature platform that brings together communication service providers, equipment manufacturers, and independent developers, built around the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform – Ericsson’s management and automation platform for open, multi vendor, and multi technology networks.
Ari Kynäslahti, Chief Technology Officer of Nokia, stated, “This collaboration with Ericsson marks a crucial progress in delivering the next generation of autonomous networks in the industry. By reaching agreement on open frameworks and intelligent operating models, we provide service providers with a more adaptable and future oriented automation foundation. This collaboration also accelerates the evolution of rApp environments, enabling operators to introduce new capabilities faster, optimize networks more accurately, and achieve innovative scaling in diverse deployment scenarios worldwide. ”
Anders Vestergren, Head of Network Management Solutions at Ericsson, stated, “This collaboration is a crucial step forward for the telecommunications industry, providing communication service providers with greater choice and flexibility in executing their autonomous network transformation strategies. The agreement between Nokia and Ericsson reflects the sustained and effective efforts of both parties to encourage innovation through the R1 interface, cultivate a diverse, active, and vibrant rApp ecosystem, and jointly promote the deep application of this key telecommunications technology field in global networks. ”
Both parties are members of the ecosystem, reflecting Nokia and Ericsson’s strategic focus on promoting the development of autonomous networks, with a particular emphasis on innovation around the R1 interface (through which rApp interacts with service management and orchestration layers). As global communication service providers strive to achieve and surpass L4 level autonomous networks, such joint efforts are crucial for introducing artificial intelligence and automation into mobile networks, transforming deployment, optimizing, and operating workflows.
The cooperation between Nokia and Ericsson will strengthen cross industry development and promote seamless adoption and integration of automation tools in diverse multi vendor environments. Through this collaboration, both companies will provide rApp applications to communication service providers on their respective platforms.
Dimitris Mavrakis, Senior Research Director at ABI Research, stated that “the telecommunications industry is converging towards Service Management and Organization (SMO) as a long-term automation architecture, with major wireless access network and service management and organization contributors, as well as communication service providers, working together through standards based collaboration to drive this transformation. Ericsson and Nokia’s participation in each other’s rApp ecosystem reflects their shared confidence in SMO architecture and their joint commitment to promoting industry interoperability through standardized R1 interfaces. This cooperation will expand the range of rApp applications available to communication service providers, enhance their availability, and strengthen the interoperability between various rApps that are constantly emerging in the market.”