Nokia has announced an expansion of its data center networking portfolio, targeting hyperscale and high-performance data center applications that demand rapid networking and operational automation for AI workloads. The introduction includes the 7220 Interconnect Router (IXR) high-performance data center switches and updated Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform with Artificial Intelligence for Operations (AIOps).
The flagship 7220 IXR-H6 switch family achieves throughput up to 102.4 Terabits per second and supports 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) and 1.6 Terabit Ethernet (TE) interface speeds. According to Nokia, this doubles throughput and port performance within the same physical footprint. The switches comply with Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) specifications, aiming to optimize packet flows, avoid congestion, and maximize network efficiency for data center environments that scale to one million accelerator processing units (XPUs) and beyond. Both liquid-cooled and air-cooled versions are available, supporting flexible integration across various data center rack configurations.
Nokia reports it is the only vendor currently offering hardware supporting both its embedded SR Linux network operating system and open-source Community SONiC, giving operators a choice of software stacks backed by vendor expertise and support. These features are intended for data center operators serving AI training and inference workloads, with direct applicability to large-scale technology vendors, colocation providers, and hyperscale operators.
The enhanced EDA platform introduces agentic AI-driven AIOps functionality, enabling network operators to perform natural language queries, execute automated root cause analysis, and carry out remediation across complex data center networks. Nokia claims that, using extensive telemetry, digital twin, dry-run, and roll-back capabilities, EDA AIOps enables a 96 percent reduction in data center network downtime, referencing data from Bell Labs Consulting and Futurum.
Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, commented, “The 1.6 TE interface speeds on Nokia’s new family of 7220 IXR switches hit a sweet spot in the market as agentic AI compels a change in data center networking requirements,” adding, “Agentic AI-powered AIOps on Nokia’s EDA platform is timely, driving increased operational efficiency and reliability in a demanding network environment. Also great to see Nokia’s commitment to the UEC as 650 Group analysis projects Ethernet will be the dominant networking protocol for AI moving forward.”
The 7220 IXR-H6 switches are scheduled for availability in the first quarter of 2026. Nokia states that EDA AIOps features are currently available for demonstration and will be deployable by end of 2025.
Source: Nokia
