Nokia has announced a five-year expansion agreement to provide data center routers and switches for Microsoft Azure. Nokia’s data center networking product portfolio will enhance the scalability and reliability of global Azure data centers. This partnership will expand Nokia’s global footprint to over 30 countries and strengthen its role as a strategic supplier of Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure.

The new agreement also builds on the existing collaboration between the two companies around open-source SONiC and emphasizes Nokia’s continued innovation in developing and expanding SONiC capabilities, including support for high-capacity network roles based on chassis in data centers.
As part of the expansion, Nokia will offer its 7250 IXR-10e platform, providing multi terabit scale interconnects within Microsoft’s data centers. Nokia will also continue to deliver its custom developed management rack switch, which is widely used throughout the Azure network. Nokia’s SONiC based data center routers and switches will be deployed in greenfield locations and used to support Microsoft’s migration from 100GE to 400GE connectivity within existing facilities. This will enable Microsoft to meet the growing demand for traffic in the coming years with Nokia’s outstanding network performance and reliability. The Nokia 7250 IXR-10e will begin deployment in February next year.
Vach Kompella, Senior Vice President and General Manager of IP Networks at Nokia, said, “We are pleased to enter the next phase of our relationship with Microsoft by expanding the product scope, geographic scope, and time commitment of the agreement to five years. With this new agreement, Nokia will further enhance the scalability and reliability of Microsoft Azure data centers worldwide. This victory affirms Nokia’s commitment to becoming a strategic supplier to a Tier 1 hyperscale company and emphasizes that our years of strategic investment and approach have put us on the right track.”
“As a leader in the development of cloud computing, we are constantly expanding our global footprint to support the massive growth of computing workloads. Over the past six years, we have collaborated with Nokia engineers to develop routers running SONiC to rapidly advance our expansion and meet customers’ demands for quality, “said David Maltz, Microsoft Azure Network Technology Researcher and Enterprise Vice President.