• Nokia’s Data Center solution was recognized for its extensive hardware portfolio, operations and management, strong NetOps suitability and focus on AI capabilities
• The Nokia Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform earned high marks for its highly automated design, deployment and operations processes.
• GigaOm evaluated nine leading Data Center switching vendors based on a comprehensive set of criteria

Nokia  announced that GigaOm has for the fourth straight year recognized the company as a Leader and Outperformer in the GigaOm Radar Report for Data Center Switching. Nokia’s Data Center Fabric solution, designed to deliver reliable, efficient, and scalable performance in data center and cloud environments, earned high marks for its extensive hardware portfolio, advanced operations and management capabilities, strong NetOps suitability, and dedicated focus on AI-driven features.

GigaOm’s industry experts evaluated nine leading data center switching vendors across a comprehensive set of criteria. providing technology teams and executive leadership with a detailed decision-making framework for assessing data center switching solutions. Key metrics include hardware switch performance, software advancements for network operating systems (NOSs), and automation tools for designing, deploying and operating large-scale data center networks. GigaOm notes that data center switches are evolving to enhance these capabilities as enterprises transition to an ’application-first’ orientation and evolve to embrace AI-driven applications and use cases.

Nokia’s comprehensive hardware portfolio supports port speeds ranging from 1 GbE up to 800 GbE and includes the 7250 IXR series of high-performance, high-density, modular and fixed-configuration platforms designed for data center spine deployments , the 7220 IXR series of high-performance, high-density, fixed-configuration platforms for data center leaf and spine deployments and the 7215 IXS platform for reliable out-of-band management.

Designed to enhance and scale operations across the entire data center fabric lifecycle, the Nokia Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform serves as a powerful operational toolkit and management system. Its highly automated approach to day0 design, day1 deployment, and day2 ongoing operations contributed to Nokia’s strong ranking.

Nokia’s solution also earned high marks for SR Linux, its microservices-based NOS. GigaOm evaluated network operating systems based on their use of containerized microservices that handle network functions, as well as Large Language Model (LLM) integration, which enables natural language insights into the state of the network without relying on CLI commands or complex UI navigation.

Nokia’s NetOps Development Kit (NDK) is cited as a differentiating feature, enabling networking teams to take advantage of the underlying model-driven architecture of SR Linux. Using the NDK, data center teams can develop new apps and operational tools in their chosen programming language and get deep programmatic access to, and control over, the entire IXR switching system.

Nokia’s solution earned exceptional reliability scores, highlighting its strengths in failover handling, traffic rerouting, troubleshooting, repairs as well as disaster recovery in case of hardware failures or other incidents.

“Nokia was classified as an Outperformer given its strong feature delivery in the last year, which resulted in strong score results across the report’s key and emerging features. The Nokia solution can be easily integrated into existing heterogeneous deployments, making it easy for organizations to ramp up their Nokia-based data center network deployments,” said Andrew Green, Analyst at GigaOm.

“For the fourth year in a row, Nokia has been named a Leader and Outperformer in the GigaOm Radar Report for Data Center Switching—confirming that our Data Center Fabric solution delivers the reliability, ease of use, automation and energy efficiency our customers need. As businesses face massive growth, market shifts, and new opportunities like AI, we’re proud to help them stay ahead with technology they can trust,” said Rudy Hoebeke, Vice President of Product Management, IP Networks at Nokia.