Apple is deploying a new line of Nokia data centre switching products at its Denmark facility to improve its efficiency, the Finnish equipment maker has said. According to Nokia, it has redefined data centre fabrics with the launch of a new and modern Network Operating System (NOS) and a declarative, intent-based automation and operations toolkit.
This will allow Cloud and data centre builders to scale and adapt operations in the face of exponential traffic growth and constant change brought on from technology shifts like 5G and Industry 4.0. The new Nokia Service Router Linux (SR Linux) NOS and Nokia Fabric Service Platform (FSP) were co-developed with leading global companies, including Apple.
"We regularly upgrade our data center equipment with technology to increase efficiency and reduce energy consumption. Using Nokia's new system will enable better networking and routing capabilities in our Viborg, Denmark facility," Adam Bechtel, Vice President and Networking lead at Apple, said in a statement.
Facing massive growth in demand for cloud-based applications and use of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality, today's large and growing community of Cloud builders require new level of customisation and flexibility from networking components to operate and monitor sprawling data centers.
Nokia SR Linux is a genuine architectural step forward as it is the first fully modern microservices-based NOS, and the SR Linux NDK (NetOps development kit) exposes a complete and rich set of programming capabilities, Nokia said.
According to an estimate by market research company 650 Group, total spending on Data Center switching and routing products should exceed $17 billion a year by 2024, with telco service providers and enterprises benefiting from the innovation occurring in the Cloud for years to come.