Get Cloud-Native Voice Up and Running Quickly With Engineered Systems

Voice is the original telephony service, the granddaddy of them all. The service has been an inseparable part of mobile subscriptions in every generation of network technology. It is offering a simple way for people to reach out across the globe to talk instantly and securely.

Voice will undoubtedly continue its prominence in the 5G era. The technology offering new capabilities to make the customer experience even more powerful and attractive. The service can be integrated into innovative 5G services or become a critical component of a bundle of services combining data and voice capabilities. Use cases will take advantage of 5G performance, such as very high mobile data rates, low radio latency, or network slicing.

5G demands an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network that treats voice service as access agnostic – fixed, cable 2G/3G/4G and 5G. The roll out of 5G is therefore accelerating many plans by Communications Service Providers (CSP) to update their voice cores from older network technologies to IMS.

Go cloud-native the easy way

Modernization to a cloud-native core network enables CSPs to not just monetize essential 5G services like voice and data access but also lays the groundwork for more innovative and differentiated services. A well-optimized network for high-quality Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is a solid foundation for Voice over 5G. Yet, while cloud-native architecture helps address the ever-increasing complexity of networks, interoperability in a multivendor environment is a significant obstacle.

Updating, integrating, and deploying cloud-native core networks is a complex and time-consuming task. It challenges CSPs as they strive to keep pace with rapidly changing market demands to stay competitive. The solution for many CSPs lies in using pre-defined, pre-integrated, certified, operations-ready systems. These provide essential end-user services as the main building blocks of a complete core network. Such solutions (Core Engineered Systems in Nokia terms) follow 3GPP standards and encompass the latest 5G functions: 4G/5G packet core, 4G/5G unified data management, and 4G/5G Voice over LTE/NR as well as Wi-Fi.

Figure 1:

The open system drives innovation

Crucially, Core Engineered Systems are open. Allowing CSPs to deploy cloud-based applications to offer differentiated use cases for consumers and industrial customers based on programmable IMS-based voice. In this way, top-quality voice can become an important ingredient of other 5G services.

Nokia has just released a cloud-native Core Engineered System for voice-over LTE/5G. The complete solution provides the functions, lifecycle management, reliability, performance, and stability that CSPs need to quickly launch VoLTE or VoNR services. The system is based on future-proof cloud-native products running on container infrastructure. It can be deployed in telco and hybrid cloud forms, with an evolution path to fully distributed ‘any cloud’.

Cloud-native Core Engineered Systems provide an attractive solution that will enable CSPs to monetize 5G voice services rapidly. Being early with advanced voice services also helps to ensure a CSP’s competitiveness and build a positive brand image as an innovator. The time to update the voice core is upon us.

For more information about Core Engineered Systems, please read our white paper.
For more insight into 5G voice services please see our set of white papers.

— Joachim Ungruh, Core Portfolio Management Leader, Nokia

This content is sponsored by Nokia.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)