Nokia's New Services Help Clear the Way for 5G
Every day, the wait for commercially-available 5G access gets a little shorter, and we get that much closer to seeing just what kind of impact this service has on the entire planet. Yet sometimes we don't consider that such sea changes don't happen overnight, or in isolation, and so we have to consider how to make these changes happen. Nokia is set to bring out a whole new slate of services geared toward bridging the gap between LTE and 5G, and this should make the transition a lot smoother overall.
Known as Nokia 5G Acceleration Services, operators will have access to a slate of tools geared toward taking vision—which essentially is all 5G is right now outside of some very limited testing—and turning it into eventual reality. Users of the Acceleration Services will get access to complete transformation plans built around individual corporate circumstances, and allow those users to determine overall pacing of investments and the new technologies emerging.
More concretely, users will be able to develop complete business cases around customer needs and available spectrum in a region, begin planning overall architecture featuring radio access network designs and similar matters, and develop the basic foundations of 5G access thanks to Nokia's years of expertise in the field. Since Nokia is involved in a slate of 5G-based projects worldwide, it has some of the greatest accumulation of knowledge in this market, and is ready to put it to use for operators. .
Nokia's head of global services, Igor Leprince, commented “Working in a consultative mode Nokia 5G Acceleration Services can minimize the complexity of this transformation, creating a plan that will allow operators to migrate optimally to 5G to capitalize on new business opportunities. We are already working with our customers on 5G co-development agreements, and by leveraging our transformation services and Bell Labs Consulting expertise we can help operators build a solid business case for their 5G transformation.”
It would be a bridge too far to make a jump from LTE to 5G in any rapid fashion, and there's no doubt that customer bases worldwide are champing at the bit for this technology. We already know that companies consider 5G access a game changer, and already are gearing up to add this technology to current rosters. Service providers, therefore, must likewise be ready to hit the ground running, and Nokia's offerings should help speed the process up. When those technologies go live in about three years, first-mover advantage is going to be vital, and having the groundwork laid in advance trims a whole lot of time off the matter.
With advance preparation, companies are vastly better equipped to make this new move. That's good news for many firms out there, and for those of us dying to get access to fatter pipes as well.
Edited by Maurice Nagle
