Nokia passes control to CSPs to deploy applications on its broadband devices
- Nokia introduces application containers enabling communication service providers (CSPs) to easily install applications on customer premise equipment
- Nokia is establishing a community of third party application providers to create new revenue streams to broadband providers who want to offer enhanced user experiences from cybersecurity to entertainment to productivity
- Nokia projects 30% of broadband-connected homes will use third party applications and services within containers by 2025
13 October 2021
Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced it is enabling CSPs to directly upload and manage the lifecycle of applications on its broadband devices. In a move that heralds a new beginning in their relationship with customers, CSPs can now bypass firmware releases to deploy new applications using Nokia’s application container solution. The new solution, launched today at the Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam, opens up new monetization opportunities for CSPs who can now dynamically provide a far richer suite of services.
Containers are a way to provide an environment within a device which can host independent isolated applications without interfering with the functioning of the device or other applications. This means service providers can quickly add new services and capabilities, including from third parties, thereby opening up brand-new monetization opportunities.
Application containers are already widely used in cloud and enterprise domains, but is an emerging market for CSPs in a CPE environment.
“Application containers enable the ability for service providers to have more nimble solutions for their customers,” explained John Kendall, Principal Analyst from Omdia. “Whereas previously, these new services would need to be pre-installed on the broadband gateway, containers empower service providers to easily and rapidly provide new capabilities to their customers, bringing new potential revenue streams. These can include VPN access to work from home, enhanced threat protection, better latency for streaming video and online gaming, privacy and parental controls.”
Nokia is establishing an community of third party developers to make their applications available to CSPs through its application container platform. Initial partners include F-Secure for cybersecurity, Broadpeak for multicast-ABR video delivery, Cognitive Systems for Wi-Fi motion sensing, Gamebench for performance monitoring, Domos for performance optimization, Ookla for speed test, and NTOP for traffic analysis.
Sandy Motley, President, Fixed Networks at Nokia said “We believe application containers are as exciting for broadband providers as was the invention of app stores for mobile devices. They open a whole new world for our customers to innovate, to create revenue streams and to bring more value to the end-users. We conservatively estimate that by 2025, 30% of broadband-connected homes will be benefiting from third party software and services delivered to the devices via applications containers.”
Nokia’s application containers will initially be available on its premium residential broadband devices including fiber, Wi-Fi and Fixed Wireless Access gateways.
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With application containers, Nokia introduces an isolated environment within its devices in which applications can run using dedicated resources such as CPU power and memory. The container separates the apps from the device operating system meaning the life cycle of the application can be managed directly by the operator and independently of the device’s firmware updates.
Nokia’s application containers will initially be available on the following broadband devices:
- The Nokia WiFi Beacon 6, an Ethernet gateway; tri-band Wi-Fi 6 (2+2+4 MIMO)
- The new Nokia Optical Network Termination XS-2426G-B, with XGS-PON uplink (10 Gb/s); Wi-Fi 6 with 4+4 MIMO and 160 MHz support; one 2.5 Gb/s and three 1 Gb/s LAN ports
- The new Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 3.2 for 5G network connectivity and in-home Nokia mesh Wi-Fi 6 for a complete, user-installable Fixed Wireless Access solution
3rd party developers working with Nokia to provide their apps:
|
Partner |
Use case |
Description |
|
F-Secure |
Cybersecurity |
F-Secure delivers security and privacy solutions for the connected home. Best in class protection combined with a seamless user experience |
|
Broadpeak |
Multicast video streaming |
Multicast-Adaptive Bit Rate distribution to the mesh Wi-Fi networks. Multicast-ABR delivers video to standard streaming devices with the quality and the scalability of multicast, making it a perfect alternative to legacy Broadcast or IPTV |
|
Cognitive Systems |
Wi-Fi sensing |
WiFi Motion™ provides whole home awareness by sensing motion anywhere Wi-Fi signals are present. Working with people’s natural movements, WiFi Motion enhances the quality of life by unlocking new services for home monitoring, automation, eldercare, and more. |
|
Gamebench |
Performance monitoring |
Gamebench’s Game Performance Monitoring helps CSPs to evaluate, analyze, monitor, and deliver insights about device, application, network, and platform performance. |
|
Domos |
Gaming, Work-from-home |
Domos puts users in the driver’s seat to prioritize the applications that matter most, dynamically detecting use cases like gaming and video conferencing, and allocating them optimal network resources to ensure predictably perfect application outcomes |
|
Ookla® |
Speedtest® |
" The global leader in internet testing, data and analysis." |
|
NTOP |
Traffic Analysis |
High-speed web-based traffic analysis and flow collection using ntopng. Persistent traffic statistics in RRD format. Layer 7 analysis by leveraging on nDPI, an Open Source DPI framework. |
More information: web page