Feb. 8, 2023 - Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced that it is expanding its Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) solution to include the validation testing of industrial user equipment and third-party devices connecting people and machines over Nokia digital automation cloud (DAC) and modular private wireless (MPW) networks. This will allow enterprises to streamline the testing of equipment and Industry 4.0 use cases over private wireless to assess how they will help achieve their digital transformation goals. A dedicated device testing facility in Bangalore, India will allow more customers to accelerate Industry 4.0 service adoption.

Nokia LaaS will enable enterprise customers to assess how devices and equipment working over 4.9G/LTE and 5G private wireless networks, will support their implementation of Industry 4.0 use cases. Leveraging Nokia Digital Automated Cloud (DAC) and Modular Private Wireless (MPW) customers will be able to see how enterprise, third-party or Nokia Industrial devices such as handhelds, fieldrouters, dongles and wearables will connect machines and people and how that can advance their digitalization journey.

Device validation consists of standardized testing packages. Vertical segments will benefit from Nokia’s extensive network, connectivity knowledge and rapid access to a range of pre-tested validation services. Enterprises can ensure any device functions well within a Nokia private wireless environment, and guarantee they meet the performance requirements of any use case.

The new Nokia LaaS device validation capabilities complement an already extensive range of services supporting chipset, device manufacturers, communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises who want to introduce new elements in their devices and networks. These include the development testing of equipment and applications, certification, proof of concept testing of solutions and features and factory acceptance testing.

Industry digitalization enables enterprises to leverage and manipulate their operational technology (OT) to transform processes and achieve business goals. Widespread implementation of autonomous robots, zero-fault manufacturing, predictive maintenance and other Industry 4.0 use cases rely on the secure real-time connectivity of people and machines using a range of devices. With no investment required by the customer, Nokia LaaS will allow enterprises to test device capabilities in Nokia labs or at their premises.

Nokia LaaS facilities are already in operation in the United States, Europe, South Korea and Japan, Nokia will now expand the service by opening a dedicated device testing facility for enterprise customers in Bangalore, India.

Kitty Weldon, principal analyst at GlobalData, said: “The expanded Nokia LaaS solution provides unique benefits to enterprises that are planning to deploy private wireless networks but may be concerned with cost, complexity, or device performance. By providing a complete test environment on an opex basis, enterprises can eliminate much of the expense and worry about how their devices and applications will perform, not just in a theoretical network, but for their specific deployment and use cases. The flexibility of the testing service, which can be performed at a Nokia site or on the customer premise, adds to the ease-of-use. LaaS for enterprises not only provides differentiation for Nokia but should help substantially with customer adoption of private wireless networks for Industry 4.0 digitalization.”

Stephan Litjens, Vice President of Enterprise Campus Edge Solutions of Nokia, said: “Nokia is committed to supporting our enterprise customers to achieve their digitalization goals in the most intuitive ways. Device validation will be an essential part of Lab-as-a-Service, allowing them to accelerate service adoption. Enterprises will be able to experiment with devices, use cases, with no up-front investment, to see how they deliver the greatest value from their operations over private wireless networks using Nokia DAC or MPW. In addition, by opening the dedicated facility in Bangalore, we can extend these capabilities to even more enterprise customers across the world.”

Go to Nokia website

Like everybody, we sometimes get a little frustrated with our cellphones. Probably one of the most annoying things is when we drop our phones once and they stop working. At Nokia’s hardware damage labs in San Diego, they physically test their phones for extreme uses. They test things like flip tension, water resistance, and even UV resistance. Recently, the folks over at MobileCrunch were given a tour of these labs and were nice enough to post an in-depth article about what they saw. In addition to the impact testing video above, there are many more videos posted that demonstrate the tests they perform.

February 14, 2023, 12:26 AM EST

‘I’m most excited about this partnership and what we bring to our clients because the business challenges are being solved and will continue to be solved even more so by digitalization and IoT,’ Kyndryl’s vice president, U.S. network and edge practice leader, told CRN.

Solution provider giant Kyndryl has expanded its two-year-old partnership with Nokia as private wireless and edge computing become increasingly interesting to enterprises looking to solve their complex connectivity issues.

Kyndryl, the former managed infrastructure business that spun out of IBM in 2021 and is now weighs in at No. 6 on the 2022 CRN Solution Provider 500, sees 2023 as the year of enterprises accelerating their digital transformation and IoT plans. Private LTE and 5G, a connectivity option that works in harmony with existing enterprise wireless infrastructure, is a critical part of that transformation, said Gretchen Tinnerman, vice president, U.S. network and edge practice leader, for Kyndryl.

Kyndryl today has more than 100 successful private networking customer engagements under its belt with Nokia. As a result, the company has gained Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) advanced accreditation status, the New York City-based company announced on Tuesday.

[Related: The 25 Hottest IoT & 5G Services Companies: 2022 Edge Computing 100 ]

Kyndryl believes that Nokia right now has the best-in-class private wireless products and services to support its customers, Tinnerman told CRN. The partnership brings together expert resources and practitioners that can deliver and support secure LTE and 5G private wireless networking solutions worldwide across a variety of industries.

Tinnerman described Kyndryl’s private networking strategy with Nokia to be both vertical and horizontal. “We’re working with Nokia [to help] our clients in specific vertical use cases. For example, the connected worker use case for energy and oil is specific to energy and oil, but there’s still a connected worker use case in healthcare—it just looks a little different,” she said. “I’m most excited about this partnership and what we bring to our clients because the business challenges are being solved and will continue to be solved even more so by digitalization and IoT.”

Since the start of the partnership, Kyndryl has been working with Nokia to understand business challenges in specific verticals like manufacturing, health care, energy or oil and gas, and devising private wireless strategies for some of the biggest brands, including Dow, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. The two companies are currently working on 5G and private wireless deployments with one of the largest energy companies in the U.S., a large U.S. health care provider, a multinational petrochemical company, and a leading aluminum and copper manufacturing company in Asia, the company said.

Kyndryl is providing private wireless services in about 24 countries. As spectrum becomes available, the firm is expanding its reach, Tinnerman said.

Nokia isn’t the only partner that Kyndryl is working with to power private networking and connect IoT deployments. Intel is another critical partner to the company as more connected devices containing Intel chips enter clients’ environments, Tinnerman said. Down the road, the firm also plans on working with other private networking suppliers.

“For the client, we are truly a system integrator bringing different providers together and integrating all of us together,” she said. “The carriers were once really the only ones providing the services and the value to the clients … but now as an SI, we’re able to utilize our security, resilience and hyperscaler practices as an all-inclusive solution to our customers.”

Kyndryl also on Tuesday announced the launch of a partner innovation lab in Raleigh, N.C. with Palo Alto Networks joining as a security partner to test and bring advanced and secure wireless connectivity to industrial enterprises.

“Along with our partners, we can grow by bringing our practitioners and engineers into that lab so that we know we’ve got a skilled workforce who can provide consulting services, design services and architecture services for solutions to support our clients moving forward,” Tinnerman said. “That’s a big investment for Kyndryl.”

The two companies will meet onstage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month to discuss how they are working together to advance 5G private network adoption.

Kyndryl, the IT infrastructure services provider, and Nokia, the networking technology specialist, have announced a three-year extension and expansion of their global network and edge computing partnership, with a focus on developing and delivering LTE and 5G private wireless services and Industry 4.0 solutions.

Kyndryl and Nokia established their global network and edge computing alliance in February 2022. The partnership has since grown exponentially, with more than 100 active engagements with global enterprises, from advisory or testing, to piloting, to full implementation, across 24 countries.

“As enterprises seek to accelerate and deliver on their journeys towards Industry 4.0 and digitalisation, the effective integration and deployment of advanced LTE and 5G private wireless networking technologies becomes instrumental to integrate all enterprise operations in a seamless, reliable, efficient and built in a secure manner,” says Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice President of Telco and Mobility Research at IDC. “This expanding, powerful relationship between Nokia and Kyndryl is a unique combination of vertical and horizontal capabilities, and offers IT, OT and business leaders access to the innovation, tools, and expert resources they need to digitally transform their operations. The partnership offers a compelling shared vision and execution that will enable customers across all industries and geographies to access the ingredients they need to deliver against the promise of digital acceleration, powered by network and edge computing.”

The expanded effort will be enhanced with Kyndryl’s achievement of Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) Advanced accreditation status, which helps ensure that enterprise customers benefit from an expanded lineup of resources and practitioners who have extensive training and understanding of Nokia products and solutions. In addition, customers will gain access to Kyndryl’s accelerated network deployment capabilities and support of Nokia cellular radio expertise in selected markets.

To meet the growing convergence and demands of IT and OT for enterprises, Kyndryl, Nokia, and Palo Alto Networks, a global cybersecurity leader, will launch a joint lab in Raleigh, North Carolina to bring rauditable wireless connectivity with advanced security capabilities to industrial networks. Through the collaboration, a multi-factor zero trust model for industrial networking is enabled at both the IT and OT sides of the network using the best tools and resources from each of the companies. Kyndryl’s network experts are developing an integrated system starting from the foundations of a typical Modbus process control network and extending access and security beyond the typical shop floor. Using the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, private cellular connectivity will enable high mobility and extended reach of the network.

“Our partnership with Nokia has been focused on co-innovating and co-creating for customers to digitally transform their workspaces and operations,” said Paul Savill, global practice leader of Network and Edge computing for Kyndryl. “The success we have seen in deploying private wireless for customers like Dow Chemical over the past 12-months, along with the global expansion of our collaboration, is a testament to our belief that we can jointly help companies drive Industry 4.0 transformation across all industries, with speed and scale.”

“Kyndryl and Nokia have a shared vision for digital transformation, and as leaders in our respective industries we are driven to grow this market together. We are excited to build upon our existing success and strengthen our alliance targeting more enterprise customers across multiple industries,” said Chris Johnson, head of Nokia’s Global Enterprise Business. “The two companies are currently exploring and developing new, integrated solutions and services for Edge, Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core and Network Operations software technologies, which can address the growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking.”

Press Release

Nokia and Kyndryl expand global network and edge computing alliance

• Three-year agreement extends plans to co-innovate and accelerate deployment of flexible, reliable, and secure LTE and 5G private wireless connectivity services and Industry 4.0 solutions.

• Kyndryl elevates its strategic investment in Nokia achieving the highest tier Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) accreditation status, increasing expert resources and skilled practitioners ready to support customers across the globe.

• Kyndryl and Nokia will launch a partner innovation lab in Raleigh, North Carolina, to bring advanced wireless connectivity and edge computing, integrated with a multi-factor zero trust model, converging IT and OT for enterprises.

14 February 2023

Espoo, Finland and New York, NY – Nokia and Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, today announced a three-year extension and expansion of their global network and edge partnership, with a focus on developing and delivering industry-leading LTE and 5G private wireless services and Industry 4.0 solutions to customers worldwide.

Kyndryl and Nokia established their global network and edge computing alliance in February 2022. The partnership has since grown exponentially, with more than 100 active engagements with global enterprises, from advisory or testing, to piloting, to full implementation, across 24 countries. With a shared vision and commitment to help enterprise and mission critical infrastructure customers accelerate their digital transformations with leading-edge LTE and 5G private wireless networking, 90% of the current engagements are enterprises in the industrial manufacturing sector, including multinational petrochemical, mining and timber and utilities/energy companies.

Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice President of Telco and Mobility Research at IDC, said: “As enterprises seek to accelerate and deliver on their journeys towards Industry 4.0 and digitalization, the effective integration and deployment of advanced LTE and 5G private wireless networking technologies becomes instrumental to integrate all enterprise operations in a seamless, reliable, efficient and built in a secure manner. This expanding, powerful relationship between Nokia and Kyndryl is a unique combination of vertical and horizontal capabilities, and offers IT, OT and business leaders access to the innovation, tools, and expert resources they need to digitally transform their operations. The partnership offers a compelling shared vision and execution that will enable customers across all industries and geographies to access the ingredients they need to deliver against the promise of digital acceleration, powered by network and edge computing."

Story continues

The expanded effort will be enhanced with Kyndryl’s achievement of Nokia DAC Advanced accreditation status, which helps ensure that enterprise customers benefit from an expanded lineup of expert resources and skilled practitioners who have extensive training and deep understanding of Nokia products and solutions. In addition, customers will gain access to Kyndryl’s accelerated network deployment capabilities and support of Nokia cellular radio expertise in selected markets.

To meet the growing convergence and demands of IT and OT for enterprises, Kyndryl, Nokia, and Palo Alto Networks, the global cybersecurity leader, will launch a joint lab in Raleigh, North Carolina to bring reliable, secure, and auditable wireless connectivity to industrial networks. Through the collaboration, a multi-factor zero trust model for industrial networking is enabled at both the IT and OT sides of the network using the best tools and resources from each of the companies. Kyndryl’s network experts are developing an integrated system starting from the foundations of a typical Modbus process control network and extending access and security beyond the typical shop floor. Using Nokia DAC, private cellular connectivity enables high mobility and extended reach of the network.

Paul Savill, Global Practice Leader of Network and Edge computing at Kyndryl, said: “Our partnership with Nokia has been focused on co-innovating and co-creating for customers to digitally transform their workspaces and operations. The success we have seen in deploying private wireless for customers like Dow Chemical over the past 12 months, along with the global expansion of our collaboration, is a testament to our belief that we can jointly help companies drive Industry 4.0 transformation across all industries, with speed and scale.”

Chris Johnson, Head of Global Enterprise at Nokia, said: “Kyndryl and Nokia have a shared vision for digital transformation, and as leaders in our respective industries we are driven to grow this market together. We are excited to build upon our existing success and strengthen our alliance targeting more enterprise customers across multiple industries. We are currently exploring and developing new integrated solutions and services for Edge, Cloud, IP networking, Optics, Fixed Access, 4G and 5G Core, and Network Operations software technologies, which can address the growing demand for mission-critical, industrial-grade wireless networking.”

To date, Kyndryl and Nokia have successfully implemented a private wireless network with edge computing for Dow Chemical, at their petrochemical processing plant in Freeport, TX. The modernization of the Dow Chemical plant with advanced connectivity has increased worker safety, and enabled remote audio and video collaboration, and real time smart procedures.

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, Kyndryl and Nokia will unveil new device management services at the Nokia partner arena (Booth #3A20/2A2), showcasing Kyndryl’s auto-provisioning software leveraging Nokia’s customizable enterprise mobile capabilities on Nokia’s XR20 line of industrial-grade, ruggedized devices. The jointly-developed offerings will further enhance workplace connectivity solutions, and Strengthen productivity, employee communication, and in industrial scenarios enhance overall worker safety. Together, Kyndryl and Nokia are addressing the collaboration and operational needs that contractors and operators face in the field today. Additionally, Gretchen Tinnerman, Vice President, US Network and Edge Practice Leader at Kyndryl will join Nokia CEO, Pekka Lundmark, onstage during his MWC keynote address taking place Tuesday, February 28, 12:00-13:00 CET at the Keynote Stage, Hall 4.

Nokia has deployed mission-critical networks to more than 2,600 leading enterprise customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe. It has also extended its footprint to more than 560 private wireless customers worldwide across an array of industrial sectors and has been cited by numerous industry analysts as the leading provider of private wireless networking worldwide.

Resources

Webpage: Kyndryl Network and Edge Computing

Webpage: Kyndryl Digital Workplace

About Nokia

At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.

As a trusted partner for critical networks, we are committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed, and cloud networks. We create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs.

Adhering to high standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive world.

About Kyndryl 
Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider serving thousands of enterprise customers in more than 60 countries. The Company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com

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Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced that Telefonica Spain has successfully trialed 25G PON technology. The trial, the first in Spain to demonstrate symmetric speeds of 20 Gbps, showed that the state-of-the-art 25G PON can co-exist with Telefonica’s existing GPON solution.

Telefonica, with almost 60 million FTTH homes passed already deployed in their multiple business units, has validated with this trial that current GPON and XGS-PON broadband technologies can co-exist seamlessly on the same fibre with the 25G PON. High speeds aligned with low latency, get the network ready for future exciting applications like the Metaverse. 25G PON delivers huge symmetrical bandwidth capacity that will support new use cases and bandwidth requirements.

Gonzalo Garzón, Head of Fixed Access at Telefónica España at Telefonica’s, said: “Telefonica was the first operator in Spain to provide gigabit connectivity, but we are not stopping there. Consumer bandwidth demands never halts and exciting applications, like VR gaming, will always be evolved to make the most of available bandwidth. New FTTH technologies give us even more opportunities than home connectivity. With their massive uptick in capacity we’ll be able to offer new business services on the same network.”

Bjorn Capens, VP Europe, Nokia Fixed Networks, said: “Thanks to our Quillion chipset, this 25G PON proof of concept with Telefonica has demonstrated that the huge bandwidth-capacity can be easily added to their existing networks, co-existing with their existing PON technologies. This means customers on the same fibre line can be served with GPON, XGS-PON or 25G GPON, making it much easier to manage upgrade cycles.”

From beer breweries on opposite ends of the globe to aircraft technicians in isolated airports, telecoms infrastructure firm Nokia has been looking for ways to use the metaverse to aid workers in remote locations.

Nokia, who many remember as a manufacturer of consumer mobile devices, has since pivoted into developing technology and equipment that “delivers the internet.”

Robert Joyce, chief technology officer of Nokia Oceania, told Cointelegraph that part of those plans also includes delivering the metaverse.

“Nokia set up two labs last year to really look at the Metaverse and the technologies that underpin the Metaverse.”

Last year, Nokia began collaborating with an Australian university to deliver a 5G-connected microbrewery using metaverse technology, noted Joyce.

Using augmented reality (AR), researchers from a brewery tech lab at the University of Technology Sydney have been working alongside researchers from a twin facility at Dortmund University in Germany.

“They actually do joint experiments where they brew beer, they change the process, the temperature, the timings, the volumes, the recipes [...] and they feed back all of that brewing process into the digital twin,” he explained.

“Then they can actually simulate brewing in the digital twin so they can perfect the beer in the digital space."

Meanwhile, in South Australia, Joyce said Nokia that has been using the metaverse to potentially assist Cessna aircraft technicians at remote airports. 

“We worked with a company that had a virtual Cessna aircraft [...] You’ve got a Cessna in front of you, and then you have an audio instruction in your ear to tell you how to change the wheel, or change a part on the engine," said Joyce.

“We had a 5G connected Microsoft HoloLens and we were able to instruct people on how to service a Cessna using augmented reality in this case.”

Earlier this month, Nokia global chief strategy and technology officer Nishant Batra told the World Economic Forum (WEF) that the metaverse will have the biggest immediate impact on industries, rather than the consumer market.

“Ports have begun using digital twins to track every container on their docks, no matter how deeply they are buried in stacks. Aerospace companies are building engines and fuselages in the digital world to simulate exactly how an aircraft will fly – long before they tool its first mechanical part,” wrote Batra in a Jan. 13 WEF op-ed.

Joyce agreed with the statement, adding he doesn’t expect the “consumer metaverse” to take off until 2030.

He said by next year there will be five times the revenue spent on the “industrial metaverse” compared to the consumer or enterprise metaverse.

“The technology is not there yet, the technology is clunky,” said Joyce, referring to currently available consumer metaverse devices.

“It’s not the best experience to have a Quest 2 on your head for a couple of hours, and it’s not until people get to the augmented reality wearables that are comfortable [and] mass-produced.”

“We see this three or five-year lag before we actually see massive uptake in consumer virtual reality or augmented reality services.”

Related: An overview of the metaverse in 2022

Asked how blockchain will play a part in the future of the metaverse, Joyce was optimistic that the technology will be key when payments or a transfer of assets is involved.

“Clearly if you wanted integrity within a metaverse, then blockchain will play a part,” said Joyce.

“If I was going to buy a house next to Snoop Dogg’s and want to ensure that it couldn’t be lifted and shifted and copied, that's where blockchain is quite useful in terms of maintaining uniqueness in a digital space.”

Joyce, however, said that he doesn’t believe blockchain is a necessity in all applications.

“It’s not an essential underpinning technology for the metaverse but I’m glad we’ve got it [...] and it will be used in the metaverse,” he concluded.