MWC 2024’s Biggest Telecom Announcements From HPE, Palo Alto, Samsung And Verizon

Edge networking, SASE and 5G and private 5G networking were top of mind for the world’s biggest service providers, IT vendors, and telecom specialists at MWC 2024 in Barcelona this week.

Mobile World Congress 2024 kicked off this week in Barcelona as networking and telecom providers and IT vendors touted their best offerings and services that are harnessing some of the most cutting-edge and exciting technologies and concepts, such as edge computing and 5G, and Secure Access Services Edge (SASE).

For many companies, Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the opportune time to unveil partnerships with fellow telecom providers, equipment makers and mobility specialists. Cisco Systems, for example, revealed a partnership for 5G with Canadian telecom provider Telus, solution provider giant Kyndryl has teamed with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) on LTE offerings, and Palo Alto Networks is working with several private 5G specialists, such as Celona, Netscout and Nvidia, to name a few.

With so many vendors at MWC that have their sights set on taking their telecom and network services to the next level, here’s a sampling of the major 5G and telecom-related announcements and partnerships that came out of the show this week in Barcelona.

Cisco Launches AI-Ready Services For Service Providers

Tech giant Cisco Systems came to MWC armed with its vision for Networking Cloud, its platform that customers and partners can use to build networks that can support emerging technology applications and the launch of new services. Specifically, Cisco is using that platform to help service provider partners monetize their infrastructure to support enterprise customers with unified wireless experiences across people, machines, places, and things.

In another partnership revealed at MWC 2024, Cisco and Canadian telecom company Telus revealed they have launched new 5G capabilities in North America to serve IoT use cases for industry verticals, with a focus on connected cars.

Ericsson/Cradlepoint, Channel Partner Revamp Customer Site With Private 5G Deployment

Ericsson-owned Cradlepoint has joined forces with its solution provider partner, STEP, to completely revamp Toyota Material Handling’s Wi-Fi network with the addition of a private 5G network and other coverage extension offerings. These offerings include an indoor-connectivity-focused Radio Dot System.

Toyota Material Handling’s production complex in Columbus, Indiana, is now reaping the benefits of the private 5G deployment, including increased productivity, faster deliveries to customers and increased employee morale since the operational launch of the network, Ericsson shared at MWC 2024. The nearly 200,000-square-foot warehouse’s operations are running exclusively over the on-site 5G private network that uses the CBRS spectrum, with no disruptions or connectivity loss reported since the operational launch in November, the companies said.

Kyndryl Teams With HPE On 5G Services

Kyndryl, one of the largest global solution providers, has announced a global strategic alliance with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in which the firm will partner with HPE’s Athonet to jointly develop LTE and 5G private wireless services to enterprises. The combination of Athonet’s private LTE/5G and enterprise campus wired and wireless from HPE Aruba will let Kyndryl’s enterprise customers integrate their private 5G and Wi-Fi networks, according to Kyndryl.

The New York City-based company also took to MWC 2024 to launch a unified SIM that will provide secure, private IP network access to services and applications. The data only service will reach more than 150 countries through global carriers, with the ability to switch between private LTE/5G and public mobile networks for increased connectivity performance and cost management, Kyndryl said.

Nokia, Intel Team On Software, New Chips For 5G Network Energy Savings

Finland-based telecom equipment vendor Nokia, in collaboration with Intel, is working to provide 5G network energy savings through software and new chip, the company revealed at MWC 2024.

The greater energy efficiency improvements and cost savings in 5G networks will be achieved by using Xeon processors and power management software from Intel that will power Nokia’s cloud-native 5G Core solutions. Nokia has achieved about 40 percent runtime power savings using its cloud-native 5G Core, integrated with Intel Infrastructure Power Manager (IPM) software and 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors in testing environments, the company said.

Palo Alto Networks Launches Private 5G Security Services With Tech Partners

Security leader Palo Alto Networks got in on the MWC action with the launch of a set of private 5G security services in collaboration with a handful of private 5G partners. The company said that bringing together Palo Alto Networks’ 5G Security with private 5G partner integrations and services will let enterprises deploy, manage, and secure networks throughout their 5G journey.

Palo Alto Networks private 5G partners have been vetted via lab testing and have proven success with customers with private 5G networks. The initial private 5G partners include Celona, Druid, Ataya, Netscout, Nvidia, and NTT Data.

Red Hat, NTT Team On AI Analysis At The Edge

Red Hat and NTT Corp., in collaboration with Nvidia and Fujitsu, have co-developed an offering to enhance and extend the potential for real-time AI data analysis at the edge, the companies revealed at MWC 2024.

The partnership will include services built on Red Hat OpenShift, a hybrid cloud application platform, as well as NTT’s accelerated data pipeline for AI adopts Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) to collect and process large amounts of sensor data at the edge. With edge computing capabilities cropping up in more remote locations, the collaboration will enable AI analysis closer to sensors, which will reduce latency and increase bandwidth, the two companies said.

The collaboration is part of the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative, according to Red Hat.

Samsung, Juniper Networks, and Wind River Collaborate On Intelligent Mobile Network Offerings

Samsung Electronics, Juniper Networks, and edge software provider Wind River have teamed up on a virtual cell site router (vCSR) that will let service providers operate their networks with end-to-end virtualization. Having a software-based network will mean more flexibility, agility, sustainability and the ability to introduce new services more quickly, the companies said in a joint statement.

The partnership brought together the Juniper Cloud-Native Router, a fully containerized network element, with the Samsung virtualized distributed unit (vDU) on the Wind River Studio Cloud Platform. Running multiple network elements on a single virtualized RAN (vRAN) server, eliminates the need for physical router hardware typically deployed at a cell site and will help to reducing the total cost of ownership for network deployments of 5G, according to the companies.

Verizon NaaS To Be Deployed by Xerox

Verizon Business has announced a NaaS deal in which Xerox will be adopting Verizon’s NaaS solution framework to accelerate its reinvention and operating model evolution, the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier said.

Verizon Business’ NaaS framework, a secure network platform with baked in SASE, will give Xerox the flexibility to dynamically scale network resources so the company can build a more efficient IT environment and redirect resources toward innovation and growth through connectivity and a full suite of managed services, including WAN, Local Area Network and Wireless Local Area Network. The offering also includes access to Verizon Operational and Financial Governance, Contact Center Management, Network and Security Consulting Services, according to Verizon.