Elisa Oyj has achieved a major milestone in edge computing, having successfully deployed its first fully automated edge data centre site. This site marks the second edge deployment in commercial production this year. The groundbreaking project combines the Wind River Studio Cloud Platform, a production-grade distributed Kubernetes solution for cloud infrastructure management, with the User Plane Function (UPF) application from Elisa’s current 5G core vendor, along with the advanced capabilities of Wind River Studio Conductor, an industry-leading platform that streamlines the deployment and automation of applications in large-scale distributed environments.
The implementation of this edge data centre site is a significant step in enhancing Elisa’s position as a leading digital service provider with automated operations. It demonstrates the company’s commitment to adopting next-generation technologies and unlocking the potential of edge computing across various industries, including telecommunications, transportation, healthcare, and manufacturing.
”We are delighted to continue our efficient collaboration with Wind River and take the first fully automated edge data centre into commercial service. Constant automation development is our key to future success. Combined with Wind River´s distributed cloud capabilities, we are able to further improve our customer satisfaction by reducing the time to deploy and adding the quality of the process. This strengthens Elisa’s position as the leading digital service provider in automating operations and edge deployments,” says Markus Kinnunen, Vice President, Cloud Services, Elisa.
“As a leader in the 5G landscape that powers the majority of 5G vRAN/O-RAN deployments with global operators, our Wind River Studio capabilities address service providers’ complex challenge of deploying and managing a physically distributed, ultra-low latency cloud-native infrastructure,” said Avijit Sinha, Chief Product Officer, Wind River. “Elisa is an innovator, and with their recent milestone, they are helping to advance the industry.”
Wind River Studio provides a cloud-native, Kubernetes- and container-based architecture, built on open-source, to develop, deploy, operate, and service distributed edge networks at scale. Elisa’s 5G core UPF application enhances network performance, ensuring efficient and reliable data transmission and processing at the edge. Utilising Wind River Studio Conductor’s advanced capabilities, the deployment process becomes fully automated, enabling rapid and efficient provisioning of edge data centre resources.
The outcomes of this project can be grouped into three areas: Significant time savings were achieved through automated parameter settings and environment preparation work. The overall deployment time decreased by around 50% due to automation. Automation minimised human errors, allowing multiple tasks to run in parallel, enhancing network quality, and reducing service time.
The successful implementation of this milestone project paves the way for future advancements in edge computing by Elisa. It demonstrates the seamless integration of Studio Cloud Platform, critical applications, and automation technologies, empowering industries to accelerate digital transformation and unlock new possibilities.
This collaborative effort underscores Elisa and Wind River’s commitment to driving innovation in edge computing. Elisa’s leadership in cutting-edge technologies contributes to economic growth and societal benefits.
