Nokia taps Dell for servers, becomes Dell’s preferred private network partner

In an extension of an existing partnership, Nokia will transition its Nokia Airframe server customers to Dell Technologies’ PowerEdge servers, while becoming the preferred enterprise private network provider for Dell.

The companies say they are also going to continue their joint R&D work at the Dell Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab, along with platform and application testing.

Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Nokia is combining its private wireless expertise with Dell’s infrastructure solutions.

In a release, the two companies framed the move as advancing “advance open network architectures in the telecom ecosystem and private 5G use cases among businesses.” Dell’s infrastructure becomes the go-to for telecom cloud deployments for Nokia Airframe customers, and the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (NDAC) private wireless solution will become Dell’s preferred private wireless platform for enterprise customers’ edge use cases. The NDAC solution will be integrated with the Dell NativeEdge edge operations software platform. Dell and Nokia also plan to certify workloads on Dell’s Telecom Infrastructure Blocks that support Nokia Cloud offerings, while also “continuing to collaborate on OEM engagements,” the release added.

“Through our collaboration, Nokia and Dell Technologies will harness each company’s expertise and expanded distribution to simply and quickly scale modern telecom networks and private 5G use cases,” said Dennis Hoffman, SVP and GM of the Telecom Systems Business at Dell Technologies. “With our decades of digital transformation experience, we’re ready to work together with Nokia’s customers to continue their network cloud transformation journey on the industry’s top selling compute platform.”

“This strategic partnership will make both companies more flexible and able to better address future customer needs. Dell’s digital transformation expertise and global scale, services and support will provide a seamless transition option for Nokia AirFrame customers, and Nokia’s vast experience in the design, deployment, and operation of high-performance public and private mobile networks will provide Dell’s customers with a comprehensive, scalable private wireless solution,” said Nishant Batra, chief strategy and technology officer at Nokia. “In line with our technology strategy, our continued collaboration with Dell will help address the future needs of our customers brought on by the increasing demands on networks and provide solutions to help communications service providers scale modern networks to the cloud.”