Microsoft Buys Affirmed Networks And Takes Its First Important Step In 5G Networks

Microsoft Buys Affirmed Networks And Takes Its First Important Step In 5G Networks

Microsoft has taken a crucial step in 5G networks with the acquisition of Affirmed Networks, a virtualized networking company that gives support to operators.

Microsoft announced the acquisition of Affirmed Networks, a corporation that surprised MWC 2014 attendees a couple of years ago by displaying it's completely hardware-independent virtualized networking environment. With this acquisition, the technology company takes a crucial step to position itself within the field of 5G.

Microsoft Buys Affirmed Networks

According to an entry in its official blog, Microsoft mentioned that the software will play a crucial role in assist advance 5G by offering advances in speed, cost and security. the acquisition of Affirmed Networks guarantees that Microsoft will push its Azure platform by closing contracts with operators.

Until before the acquisition, Affirmed Networks offered its virtualization technology to Orange, Vodafone, AT&T and other telcos around the world. Microsoft will now continue this work using Azure to manage network workloads within the cloud.

“Previous generations of wireless networks are supported specially designed hardware. We believe that with software innovation and making use of widely available cloud computing platforms such as Microsoft Azure, operators can deploy and maintain 5G networks and services more efficiently, more cost-effectively, faster and more securely.”

The purchase comes weeks after Google made an identical move by implementing Anthos for Telecom using its Google Cloud platform. the most advantage for operators is that they might not need to invest in developing and operating data centres with proprietary software and hardware, but would go away everything within the hands of the three dominant companies: Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

In late 2019, it had been announced that Vodafone, SK Telecom, Verizon, and KDDI teamed up with Amazon to develop computing services on 5G networks that leverage AWS infrastructure. Operators will use the AWS Wavelength platform to create low-latency applications for end-users in regions like Europe, South Korea, and Japan.

Earlier it had been mentioned that big tech companies would be a cornerstone of 5G development and will even become operators by using unlicensed frequencies within the not too distant future.