2degrees is expanding its Voice Core relationship with Nokia in a six-year deal.
The New Zealand operator will tap Nokia’s containerised Cloud Native Communication Suite (CNCS) to accelerate the deployment of new 5G services and optimise its network resources.
CNCS makes it easier for operators like 2degrees to deploy multiple vendors’ applications on the same cloud infrastructure, streamline network activities, enhance automation, and minimise manual intervention.
2degrees will utilise CNCS to bring together multiple IMS voice 3GPP functionalities into a single cloud-native network function.
CNCS will be deployed on the Nokia Cloud Platform, which integrates a full set of Red Hat cloud products, including Red Hat OpenShift.
“This provides us with a much-simplified Core architecture that enables new monetization and innovation pathways to enhance the subscriber experience and further optimize how 2degrees manages its network with new automation tools ,” said Stephen Kurzeja, CTIO at 2degrees.
A hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift is integrated into the Nokia Cloud Platform to provide cloud-native and scalable infrastructure.
By integrating with Red Hat OpenShift, operators have the option to scale their 5G network footprint and quickly introduce new services with enhanced capacity, performance, life cycle management, automation, and energy management.
The modernisation will provide 2degrees with reduced infrastructure and carbon footprint, and lower operational costs through streamlined life cycle management.
CNCS improves energy efficiency by about 10 percent to 20 percent, relative to a standard IMS Voice Core, according to Nokia data.
“This will enable the roll-out of new innovative services more quickly, securely, and without limitations in multi-cloud environments to meet the evolving and more demanding connectivity needs of 2degrees’ customers,” said Wilson Maria, head of Nokia’s cloud and network services in Oceania.
As part of the agreement, 2degrees will integrate Nokia’s MantaRay Network Management solution for a consolidated network view that optimizes network monitoring and management.
2degrees already leverages a variety of other Nokia 5G Core networking functions like Shared Data Layer, where data is stored, through NCP. This reflects Nokia’s multi-cloud strategy of providing operators with the infrastructure of their choice.
