- 7220 IXR-H6 switches double throughput and interface speeds, supporting large-scale AI deployments
- Agentic AI-enabled automation reduces network downtime and improves operational efficiency
What happened: Nokia strengthens AI data centre performance with new switches and automation
Nokia has expanded its data centre networking portfolio to address rising performance and scalability demands from AI workloads. The company introduced its new 7220 IXR-H6 high-performance switches, capable of throughput up to 102.4 Terabits per second and interface speeds reaching 1.6 Terabit Ethernet. This represents a doubling of both throughput and interface performance within the same footprint, while offering flexible deployment options including liquid-cooled and air-cooled variants.
The new switches support Nokia’s SR Linux network operating system (NOS) and open-source SONiC, giving data centre operators more choice in software management. They are compliant with Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) standards, optimising packet flow, congestion management, and network efficiency across large AI factory environments.
Alongside the hardware, Nokia has upgraded its Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform with Artificial Intelligence for Operations (AIOps) capabilities. The platform leverages agentic AI to automate issue detection, root cause analysis, and remediation, combining real-time telemetry with integrated digital twins, dry-run simulations, and instant rollback features. According to Bell Labs Consulting and Futurum’s Data Centre Fabric Reliability Study, these enhancements can reduce network downtime by up to 96%.
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Why it’s important
The growth of AI workloads is creating unprecedented demands on data centre networks, requiring both high performance and operational agility. Nokia’s latest switches provide the speed and flexibility necessary to manage millions of XPUs and complex AI fabrics, while the AIOps integration ensures faster, more reliable network operations.
Industry analysts highlight that agentic AI-driven automation is transforming network management, enabling operators to resolve issues before they affect services. This combination of hardware and software improvements positions Nokia as a key player in supporting AI-driven enterprises and cloud providers, demonstrating how AI can be applied both as a workload and a tool for operational optimisation.
