Full setup for services on offer reportedly takes just four weeks

Nokia has launched the “world’s first” AI use case library for telecommunications providers, with all of its services available for rapid deployment through Microsoft Azure.

Nokia’s AVA AI cognitive services platform ‘as a service’ enables telcos to inject AI into their networks “nine times faster than using private cloud,” according to Nokia.

Full setup of AVA AI can reportedly be completed in around four weeks, with Azure integration eliminating data sovereignty and security concerns, and providing “the same level of security as a private cloud,” the company said in the announcement.

“Operators can achieve significantly faster implementation times and can access a library of AI use cases remotely to improve network performance, lower costs, and reduce environmental impact at the same time,” Friedrich Trawoeger, VP for cloud and cognitive services at Nokia, said.

Public clouds = better clouds?

According to Nokia, AI use cases are essential for CSPs in order to manage the business complexity around 5G and cloud-based networks.

The company said that following the initial setup, CSPs can deploy additional AVA AI use cases within one week, and can then alternate resources as needed within one day across multiple network clusters.

“Nokia AVA is a clear proof point that public clouds are ready to help service providers drive AI closed-loop automation while increasing speed, agility, and scalability,” Rick Lievano, CTO for telecommunications industry at Microsoft, said.

Australian mobile operator TPG was the first commercial adopter of AVA AI delivered from a public cloud. The company has used the service to detect network anomalies, decrease CO2 emissions by eliminating drive-testing, and reduce radiofrequency optimization cycle times.

"Nokia's AVA AI as a service utilizes artificial intelligence and analytics to help us maintain a first-class, optimized service for our subscribers, helping us to predict and deal with issues before they occur,” Declan O’Rourke, head of radio and device engineering at TPG, said.

Nokia introduced AVA Quality of Experience (QoE) at the Edge at the tail end of last year, claiming at the time that deployments within traditional network architectures reduced Netflix buffering by 59 percent and improved YouTube performance by 15 percent.

Earlier this month, the Finnish telecoms giant launched a blockchain-based service for enterprises to buy and sell machine learning models and datasets.