Wipro to provide engineering services for Intel edge computing toolkit

Bengaluru-based information technology (IT) services major Wipro said it will provide commercial engineering services for Intel edge computing toolkit Open Network Edge Services Software (OpenNESS) globally.

OpenNESS helps developers create and deploy solutions and applications at the network edge or on-premise edge locations. The open source toolkit will foster innovation and developer engagement with the ecosystem to create 5G and edge solutions, Wipro said in a statement.

The partnership is expected to strengthen Wipro’s 5G solutions portfolio -- the IT firm in July launched 5G-based edge computing services to help enterprises gain real time visibility and data insights for infrastructure management. 

Intelligence closer to the source of the data will help Wipro reimagine business applications for its clients, CTO KR Sanjiv said. “Our collaboration with Intel will help build 5G solutions enabled by edge computing that will power industry applications, deliver superior experiences and drive business efficiencies,” he said.

Read: HPE and Intel launch open source programme to simplify 5G rollouts

The partnership builds on Intel and Wipro’s ongoing collaboration to provide 5G and edge solutions using the architecture of Intel’s FlexRAN, or Flexible and Programmable platform for Software Defined Radio Access Networks.

While software defined networks (SDN) are considered key to propel the 5G revolution, the opportunity that 5G offers is still untapped for the Radio Access Network due to the lack of an SD-RAN (software defined RAN) platform. RAN provides radio access and assists coordinated network resources in mobile devices.

“FlexRAN is the first concrete implementation of an SD-RAN platform specifically developed to fill this void,” Wipro said in the statement.

Wipro said that its expertise in working with FlexRAN, along with a cloud native platform, such as OpenNESS, would help the company deal with both RAN and application workloads on the same edge platform.

“Successful commercialisation of open source innovations requires partners who can expertly integrate technology components as well as provide engineering services that result in a complete solution,” Renu Navale, vice president and general manager of edge computing and ecosystem enabling at Intel, said.