Nokia snaps up Rapid to give network APIs a boost
“If you’re dealing with APIs, you’d better have the best management system for APIs, because that’s what you’ve got to deliver at the end of the day to create that developer experience,” said Raghav Sahgal, the president of Nokia’s cloud and network services business group, on a call with Light Reading. “We probably have the strongest API management system now with Rapid and the technology and people they bring.”
Nokia is not disclosing the financial or other terms of this deal, which indicates it is considerably smaller than Ericsson’s Vonage takeover. Rules on stock market disclosure suggest Nokia is paying well below €100 million ($106 million) for Rapid, according to one estimate supplied to Light Reading.
Nokia, by contrast, seems to be making a relatively small acquisition at a low point for the market. Its plan is to integrate Rapid into its Network as Code platform, where it will play a distinctive role. “There is no overlap with Network as Code,” said Saghal. “There is no duplication of anything that we have invested in. This is just enhancing a particular part of the Network as Code platform and making it better.”
Omdia, a sister company to Light Reading, predicts the market for network API transactions will generate almost $9 billion in 2029, up from just $161 million last year.
But Network as Code, strengthened by the Rapid takeover, is positioned quite differently by Sahgal than Vonage is by Ericsson. Nokia’s Finnish rival has moved the aggregation platform part of Vonage into a joint venture (JV) with 11 Tier 1 telcos. The goal of that is to function as a kind of super aggregator between networks and developer-facing platforms, including Vonage. Through Network as Code, Nokia’s main ambition is seemingly to play the same role of intermediary between telcos and other platforms.
“Our goal is not to build a Google marketplace or an Infobip marketplace,” said Sahgal, referring to a couple of the best-known platforms that exist. “Our goal is to build the enabling platform, and we are very, very focused on that. We want to make sure that we don’t compete but that we enable anything and everything across a horizontal frame. The strategy is different from that perspective.”
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/nokia-snaps-up-rapid-to-give-network-apis-a-boost
The Pentagon operates roughly 800 US military bases globally, and now the US Department of Defense (DoD) is outlining how it will bring private open RAN 5G networks to those installations.
https://www.lightreading.com/open-ran/how-the-us-military-plans-to-deploy-open-ran-5g-at-dod-bases
NVDIA näyttäisi tavoittelevan omaa palaansa RAN markkinasta AI-RAN illa. Lienee jonkinlainen uhka Nokian ja Ericssonin RAN liikevaihdolle pidemmällä aikavälillä.
Nokian nykyinen Cloud RAN pohjautuu Nokian kertoman mukaan HP ja Dell serverirautaan Nokian L1 Smart NIC llä ja Nokian softalla. Jos olen ymmärtänyt oikein NVDIA tavoitteena on toimittaa koko tämä paketti mastossa olevia radioita lukuunottamatta.
The collaboration with Nokia will turbocharge the wireless network transformation for the AI era,” said Ronnie Vashista, Senior Vice President - Telecoms, NVIDIA.
Mutta ei kyllä riitä omakaan tietämys arvioimaan arvoketjun osalta nallekarkkien jakoa.
GPU on aika välttämätön AI hommiin ja sikäli on järkevää ainakin olla yhteistyössä myös Nvidian kanssa.
Israel lehdistössä tällainen näkökulma, että olisi Rapidilla 150m$ vielä kassassa rahankeräyksistä…
Nokiahan ei ostanut yritystä vaan tietyt osat siitä. Siksi raha jää Rapidin kassaan.
“Nokia today announced that it has acquired Rapid’s technology assets, including the world’s largest API hub used by thousands of active developers globally, and its highly skilled research and development unit.” https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2024/11/13/nokia-acquires-rapid-technology-and-rd-unit-to-strengthen-development-of-network-api-solutions-and-ecosystem/ment-of-network-api-solutions-and-ecosystem/
joo vähän epäselvää näköjään
Sivuilla mainitsevat olevansa NYT osa Nokiaa mutta ilmeisesti tuo siis Rapid Api ja itse Rapid jää tyhjäksi yhtiöksi tjsp…
Tyypillinen klikkiotsikko. Itse otsikon kysymykseen (eli vaikuttaako Rapid-hankinta Nokian kurssia nostavasti) ei edes yritetä vastata. Jos joku arvostaa Zacksin artikkeleita, kuulisin mielelläni perustelut.
Ne eivät ole artikkeleita. Ne ovat bottigeneroitua puppua. Älkää vaivautuko.
The telecom industry is looking to unlock new avenues of monetization following massive 5G investments. By expanding the capabilities of its Network as a Code platform, Nokia is aiming to capitalize on these emerging market trends. This strategic buyout will accelerate network API-related product development and empower operators to derive a sustainable return against their 5G investment by engaging the broader global developer community
Tuosta jutusta poimittua. Siinähän tuo seisoo, mihin Nokia pyrkii hankinnoillaan.
Nykyään otsikoint on “catch up” Eli lukija saadaan kiinnostumaan. Vastauskin on otsikon alla.
Martin noted the voyage of open RAN is not always plain sailing: operators must adapt to a higher level of complexity in terms of working with multiple vendors compared with the past business model involving only one or two.
Vodafone Group’s head of open RAN Paco Martin: “We are seeing in our network, in our deployments, it’s commercial, it’s delivering”
Tarkoittaakohan hän nyt ORAN alkuperäisessä ajatuksessa, vai käytännössä single vendor ORANia?
Onko siis vain puheeessa mukana termi multiple vendors ja todellisuudessa on single vendor, ja mukaan on otettu joitakin pienempiä radioita eri toimittajilta.
Onhan toki Vodafone myös Nokian kanssa tehnyt ORANia Italiassa, mutta sielläkin suurin osa orkesterista tulee Nokialta tai sen yhteistyökumppaneilta. Ericssonin malli on ollut vieläkin enemmän kallellaan itsensä suuntaan.
Jännä nähdä mitä tästä tulee:
Martin explained open RAN is already delivering for Vodafone, which is now in the throes of finalising its radio tender process.
Jokohan AT&T on tullut katumapäälle?
https://www.lightreading.com/open-ran/ericsson-has-limited-plans-for-open-ran-in-its-juiciest-5g
Tuo single vendor malli on ainakin vielä 2024 selvästi paremmin toimiva ja halvempi vaihtoehto operaattorille. Siinä on, ikäänkuin vakuutuksena operaattorille, teoreettinen mahdollisuus laajentaa sitä myöhemmin multivendor suuntaan.
Ei ole Nokia eikä Ericsson. Tämä taitaa olla sitä Viettelin omaa 5G kehitystä Qualcomin platformin päälle. Eli ilmeisesti kolme toimittajaa.
SoftBank goes radio gaga about Nvidia in nervy days for Ericsson
A commercial rollout by Japan’s SoftBank of a 5G network developed with Nvidia will start in 2026, and it has implications for traditional vendors.
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/softbank-goes-radio-gaga-about-nvidia-in-nervy-days-for-ericsson