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Rakuten Symphony's Cloud Portfolio Now Validated with Nokia's Cloud-Native Core Portfolio
Rakuten Mobile's Cloud Innovation Lab in Tokyo conducts successful integration with Nokia cloud-native core network products, a key step forward in delivering innovative cloud-native telecom solutions and services to mobile operators and enterprise customers.
Key Highlights
- Rakuten Symphony's successful validation of its Cloud-Native Platform (CNP) and Storage (CNS) with Nokia Core Networks solidifies its offering of an end-to-end, telco-grade, cloud-native operating model for 4G/5G networks.
- The battle-tested architecture, forged from Rakuten Mobile's real-world operations, delivers high performance, low latency, and high availability, making it distinct from generic cloud infrastructures.
- Rakuten Cloud offers a specialized, CNCF-certified platform with advanced automation (Day 0/1/2), data security, compliance enforcement, and AI-driven capabilities for efficiency and scalability.
- Its open, vendor-agnostic approach and strategic collaborations enable quicker, more affordable service rollouts, directly competing with hyperscalers and traditional telecom vendors.
- The integration with Nokia reinforces Rakuten Symphony's commitment to providing a secure, flexible, and programmable cloud platform that empowers CSPs to confidently automate and monetize their core networks.
The News
Rakuten Symphony Inc., announced that its Rakuten Cloud portfolio of products and solutions have been successfully validated with Nokia’s cloud-native core networks products after extensive testing in the Rakuten Mobile Cloud Innovation Lab in Tokyo. For more information, read the Rakuten Symphony press release.
Analyst Take
Rakuten Symphony’s successful validation of Rakuten's Cloud-Native Platform (CNP) and Cloud-Native Storage (CNS) with Nokia Core Networks applications demonstrates portfolio development acumen and execution. It further positions Rakuten Symphony to offer communication service providers (CSPs) an end-to-end, cloud-native agile operating model. As such, this solution can empower providers to run their 4G and 5G networks on a purpose-built telco-grade cloud platform, benefiting from a high degree of programmability and significantly lower operating costs.
From my perspective, this recent validation work by Rakuten Symphony and Nokia further solidifies their ongoing, trusted collaboration, particularly in support of Rakuten Mobile's operations in Japan. Nokia has been a pivotal partner, providing a comprehensive mix of hardware, software, and services across Rakuten Mobile's radio, core, and optical transport network elements.
Rakuten CNP offers a high-performance, CNCF-certified horizontal cloud environment capable of supporting diverse IT and network workloads. It emphasizes automation and ease of use, featuring robust Day 0/1/2 automation, strong data security, and compliance enforcement specifically tailored for cloud-native settings.
Rakuten Cloud, encompassing both CNP and CNS, delivers industry-leading cloud-native platform and software-defined storage solutions engineered for automation and the demands of AI. Specifically, Rakuten Cloud-Native Storage provides high-performance capabilities at scale, catering to a wide range of applications and use cases, including AI/ML, retail, IoT, and gaming
Rakuten Cloud Altering the Competitive Landscape
I find that Rakuten Cloud holds distinct competitive advantages, especially in the telecom and enterprise cloud-native sectors. A key strength is its battle-tested, telco-grade, cloud-native architecture, directly forged from the real-world operational demands of Rakuten Mobile's network in Japan. This foundation is uniquely engineered to meet the stringent performance, low-latency, and high-availability requirements of 4G and 5G networks, along with other mission-critical workloads.
Unlike competitors offering generic cloud infrastructure, Rakuten Cloud delivers a specialized, CNCF-certified platform optimized for both network functions and IT workloads. It provides advanced Day 0/1/2 automation, comprehensive data security, and strict compliance enforcement within cloud-native settings, all while offering significant programmability.
For instance, hyperscale public cloud rivals such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud offer vast, general-purpose cloud platforms with their own services for deploying and managing applications, including increasingly specialized offerings for telecom workloads, including AWS Wavelength, Azure for Operators, Google Distributed Cloud.
While Rakuten Cloud differentiates with its telco-grade, battle-tested architecture derived from Rakuten Mobile's own network, the hyperscalers seek to leverage their scale, global reach, and extensive ecosystems of services and developer tools. This can position them as formidable competitors in some environments, appealing to enterprises already deeply integrated into their respective cloud environments.
Beyond the hyperscalers, Rakuten Cloud also competes with traditional telecom equipment vendors who are building out their own cloud and software solutions, such as Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE. These companies historically provided monolithic hardware and software stacks but are now shifting towards more cloud-native, software-defined approaches. While they bring deep telecom expertise and existing relationships with mobile network operators, I see Rakuten Cloud making progress disrupting this market with its more open, disaggregated, and automation-first approach, often built on a CNCF-certified platform.
Additionally, specialized Kubernetes and cloud-native software vendors like Red Hat OpenShift, especially with its Data Foundation, and companies offering Kubernetes-native storage solutions, such as Portworx Enterprise, now part of Pure Storage, also compete in specific aspects of Rakuten Cloud's portfolio, particularly for customers building their own cloud-native environments.
Moreover, Rakuten Cloud gains an edge through its sharp focus on automation and AI-driven capabilities for superior efficiency and scalability, combined with an open, vendor-agnostic approach. For example, Rakuten Cloud-Native Storage delivers high-performance capabilities at scale for diverse applications, including AI/ML, retail, IoT, and gaming.
Crucially, it achieves true application awareness without requiring extensive Kubernetes or storage expertise, which greatly simplifies complex deployments and reduces operational overhead. Its open interface platforms and strategic collaborations, including the validation with Nokia Core Network products, enable operators to roll out advanced services more quickly and affordably than traditional methods, all without sacrificing quality or security.
This differentiated blend of deep telecom operational experience, a highly automated cloud-native platform, and a commitment to open standards firmly positions Rakuten Cloud as a compelling choice for CSPs and enterprises aiming to modernize their infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.
Rakuten Symphony and Nokia’s Rakuten Mobile Credentials
Rakuten Symphony is inherently built upon the foundation of Rakuten Mobile's network in Japan, making this real-world operational experience central to its value. Symphony was specifically created to globalize the successful, cloud-native, Open RAN-based mobile network model that Rakuten Mobile developed and operates, often recognized as the world's first fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network. This means all of Rakuten Symphony's products, including its CNP and CNS, were developed and battle-tested within a live, commercial mobile network environment.
This deep, practical experience ensures Rakuten Symphony's offerings are not theoretical; they are proven "telco-grade" cloud solutions. This enables Symphony to provide CSPs and enterprises with a robust platform that already meets the rigorous performance, low-latency, and high-availability demands essential for 4G and 5G networks. Furthermore, the integration with Nokia continually refines the platform based on insights gathered from real-time network operations.
Rakuten Mobile recently announced (July 31. 2025) it has selected Nokia alongside Cisco and F5 as key partners for deploying its 5G Standalone (SA) mobile network. Nokia is set to provide Rakuten Mobile with cloud-native network functions (CNFs) for its 5G SA implementation, encompassing essential services such as authentication, user data management, signaling, analytics, and IMS voice. This integration can significantly bolster the network's reliability and security. Leveraging Nokia's multi-cloud capabilities, these CNFs will be deployed on Rakuten Symphony's CNP and CNS, providing Rakuten Mobile with the operational advantages of a cloud infrastructure shared across its various applications.
Furthermore, lifecycle operations for this infrastructure will be automated through Nokia's cloud operations management tools. These tools are specifically designed to optimize and manage platform resource usage within distributed, multi-tenant, and multi-vendor cloud infrastructures, streamlining efficiency for Rakuten Mobile.
Looking Ahead
I believe that the successful validation of Rakuten Symphony's CNP and CNS with Nokia is a testament to their commitment: providing CSPs with a secure, telco-grade cloud platform. This platform can further enable the deployment of modern, flexible, and easily programmable network infrastructure, specifically built for 4G and 5G cloud-native core operations.
Moreover, this integration move highlights how Nokia's multi-cloud strategy can empower customers to accelerate their network transformation seamlessly with increased agility, on their own terms. By using Nokia's suite of proven cloud-native products, Rakuten Symphony's customers can automate, customize, and monetize their core networks with increased confidence.
Ron Westfall | Analyst In Residence
Ron Westfall is a prominent analyst figure in technology and business transformation. Recognized as a Top 20 Analyst by AR Insights and a Tech Target contributor, his insights are featured in major media such as CNBC, Schwab Network, and NMG Media.
His expertise covers transformative fields such as Hybrid Cloud, AI Networking, Security Infrastructure, Edge Cloud Computing, Wireline/Wireless Connectivity, and 5G-IoT. Ron bridges the gap between C-suite strategic goals and the practical needs of end users and partners, driving technology ROI for leading organizations.