The “pay-as-you-go” design can enable enterprise-scale networks to keep pace with advances in wireless technologies – such as 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), IoT, and LTE – to accommodate continued multi-gigabit network growth. 

Siva Valliappan, VP of wired products of Ruckus Networks, said: “The ever-increasing need for Wi-Fi connectivity is taxing network cores, but the solution to keeping up with the proliferation of devices and advances in wireless technology does not need to be complex or expensive. The Ruckus ICX 7850 switch simplifies multi-gigabit network upgrades and reduces the total cost for enterprises through its ability to scale quickly and linearly to address current and future network demands.”

The switch can scale up to 12 in a stack, which rivals the density of traditional chassis-based data centre and enterprise switches. The hitless stack failover, multi-chassis trunking, and in-service software upgrades reduce downtime significantly. The available SmartZone network controller enables configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting for the entire Ruckus ICX switch portfolio and wireless access point network. This highly scalable approach is easier to manage with reduced power and cooling requirements and a lower total cost of ownership.

Security and Encryption
In 2019, network security at a hardware level is vital, and this switch supports the latest security standards and encryption technologies. ICX switches have been deployed in the U.S. federal government for over two decades, and comply with federal certifications, including FIPS, Common Criteria, CSfC, and JITC. It also supports Media Access Control Security (MACsec), a Layer 2 security technology, based on symmetric cryptographic keys, to provide point-to-point security on Ethernet links between nodes.

Many organisations, particularly school districts with older, existing networks that have OM1 or OM2 fibre optic cables require Long Reach Multimode (LRM) optics to achieve the 10 Gbps connections needed for today’s bandwidth requirements. The ICX 7850 provides investment protection and an upgrade path for customers with older fibre infrastructure by providing support for LRM optics.

The switch is now available globally.

The platform is built on the Nokia Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) infrastructure, which provides global IoT connectivity and services support. WING’s applications include IoT sensors, user applications, and business models suited to specific sectors. Its managed service approach also offers a “pay-as-you-grow” business model, giving operators the flexibility to quickly scale up IoT services as required.

Market-ready solutions are available on the platform to help reduce the challenges facing IoT operators. These include the need for specialised expertise, the complexities of combining fragmented IoT connectivity infrastructure, and the risk and effort of setting up and working with multiple service providers globally. 

The four new solutions announced this week by Nokia include:

• Smart Agriculture as-a-Service: Sensors capture environmental, soil, and crop data, which is analysed to provide insights that help farmers manage crops more effectively, potentially saving costs on irrigation, pesticides, and fertilisers.
• Livestock Management-as-a-Service: Tracking devices and biosensors monitor animal health to provide ranchers with early alerts when abnormalities are detected, protecting valuable livestock and improving yields.
• Logistics as-a-Service: IoT sensors enable tracking of the global movement and condition of goods through the supply chain to help enterprises quickly identify incidents and even predict future events to optimize delivery and logistics process efficiency.
• Asset Management-as-a-Service: Connecting products anywhere in the world enables their status and performance to be monitored centrally, helping enterprises provide a better service to their business and consumer customers.

Nokia is trialing Agriculture as-a-Service with an African operator and working with leading services and consulting firm on Asset Management-as-a-Service to help them offer more advanced services.

Ankur Bhan, global head of WING Business at Nokia, said: “The IoT is a growing opportunity for operators to win new enterprise customers and significant additional revenue in a diverse range of vertical markets. With minimal upfront investment, an operator can now quickly get a service to market and generate IoT revenues. We expect these vertical solutions to encourage more operators to connect to Nokia WING, expanding its global footprint and broadening the range of capabilities and services that will become available. We already have several more vertically-focused as-a-Service packages in the development pipeline.”