Nokia expands digital infra focus with Hetzner and Worldstream deals

The Finnish firm will help Hetzner upgrade its data centre and core infrastructure, optimising its networks in Germany and Finland with energy-efficient routers to support next-generation workloads.

Its work with Worldstream, meanwhile, sees Nokia supply its network security technologies to protect its users in the Netherlands from DDoS attacks.

Hetzner will leverage Nokia’s 7750 SR-1x routers to automate and optimise network operations.

The routers feature single-lambda 100G transceivers, which provide efficient scaling while reducing infrastructure costs. The unit also houses Nokia’s gNMI-based telemetry tech, which provides Hetzner with real-time network visibility.

The initial deployments in Germany and Finland will be later expanded across Europe to help support increased digital infrastructure demands.

“Through close collaboration with Nokia, we have been able to integrate new technology effectively into our system,” said Martin Fritzsche, head of networks at Hetzner. “This has ensured we remain flexible and agile whilst improving our data centres to meet our customer's needs.”

Matthieu Bourguignon, SVP for network infrastructure Europe at Nokia, said: “Empowering one of Europe’s largest hosting providers with state-of-the-art reliability and performance is key to driving the next generation of digital services.”

Nokia’s Worldstream project, meanwhile, sees the firm supply its Deepfield Defender and 7750 SR routers as part of a network upgrade effort to boost cybersecurity.

The routers were deployed across Worldstream’s network, with Nokia claiming the hardware offers an eightfold increase in DDoS mitigation capacity.

Prior to the deployment, Worldstream was limited in its defence against large-scale carpet-bombing attacks – which target multiple IP addresses – that could disrupt entire customer networks.

Nokia’s routers provide real-time, automated DDoS protection that scales with Worldstream’s network, ensuring that customers stay unaffected and without traffic diversion.

“Security has become just as critical as performance in hosting services,” said Ruben van der Zwan, CEO of Worldstream. “Businesses expect resilience, and they need to trust that their infrastructure won’t be taken down by a single attack.

“With Nokia DDoS technology, we’ve made a major leap in protection. Our customers now benefit from ultra-fast mitigation, ensuring that their digital services remain available no matter what’s thrown at them.”

Bourguignon added: “Cybercrime is evolving, and with the rise of AI in particular, security solutions need to evolve faster than ever before. We see that for hosting providers, traditional DDoS mitigation methods are no longer sufficient.”

Nokia has been making a push to expand further in the digital infrastructure and data centre markets, with CEO Pekka Lundmark set to be replaced with Intel’s data centre and AI general manager Justin Hotard.

Revolutionising Cloud RAN: Nokia’s take on AI, Open RAN, and 5G

Nokia’s $2.3bn Infinera acquisition expands data centre ambitions

Nokia nabs Intel AI exec to replace Pekka Lundmark as new CEO