Com4 selects Nokia 5G standalone core to power global IoT

Com4 has chosen Nokia 5G standalone core for its global internet of things (IoT) connectivity.

Part of Wireless Logic Group and founded in 2011 in Norway, Com4 provides global cellular connectivity and software services, making it, said the company, an ideal partner for IoT connectivity. It has over 12 years of experience working with enterprises around the world providing managed IoT connectivity services, with IoT products being adopted by over 950 customers and over 13 million SIM card connections under its management.

Com4 serves a wide range of industries – including energy, transport, health and security – where secure, reliable connectivity is critical. The company adds that it can provide IoT connectivity backed up by what it calls the “leading and unique” expertise of “top-notch” engineers and telecom specialists.

Com4 believes its 5G Standalone Core based on Nokia technology will enable it to deliver secure, scalable IoT services globally and meet rising demand for low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity.

Specifically, Nokia says the architecture allows Com4 to deploy features such as support for low-power wide-area (LPWA) technologies LTE-M, NB-IoT and RedCap; SIM-level service control and multi-IMSI functionality for network redundancy and global customisation; appliance-based edge gateways for localised deployment and compliance with data sovereignty rules; advanced MPLS support for scalable IP/MPLS integration; support for secure VPNs, cloud interconnects, and full-stack service management; and full application programming interface support for automation and orchestration of advanced B2B services.

The 5G Core service supports radio access technologies spanning from 2G to 5G SA, ensuring backward compatibility while enabling next-generation capabilities. It also supports fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite-based broadband, making it, insisted Nokia, a future-ready platform for IoT growth.

The full-stack core also includes packet core, policy control, charging, subscriber data management and the Nokia Cloud Platform, which integrates Red Hat OpenShift, the hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes.

Martin Nord, chief technology officer at Com4, said: “Enterprise IoT demands more than connectivity. It requires flexibility and security built-in. With this core, we can customise services per device, control deployments globally and respond faster to new market needs.”

Erez Sverdlov, vice-president of cloud and network services for Europe at Nokia, added: “IoT service providers are becoming a major part of mobile core growth with unique requirements. Nokia’s 5G Core provides strong and cost-effective capabilities tailored to IoT – from new capabilities to enable global IoT device roaming to onboarding millions of devices. These features help providers like Com4 shape and scale their services with greater accuracy and less complexity.”

Coinciding with its partnership with Com4, Nokia also announced it had been selected by CoreSite to deliver an IP routing-based edge and core network service across 30 datacentres in 11 US markets. The American Tower company has a stated mission to empower critical business and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads that impact everyday life through interconnected datacentre products, delivering massive scale, performance and efficiency.

The Nokia IP routing portfolio will see use in accommodating the increasing cloud connectivity and interconnection needs of resource-intensive AI and high-performance computing workloads for CoreSite’s nearly 40,000 customer interconnections.