Microsoft has announced a deal to acquire Affirmed Networks to ensure it has an arsenal of tools to manage the transition to 5G and edge computing. 

The company noted that the transition to 5G will enable a host of new opportunities for businesses and society, including autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and VR, and Microsoft wants to be at the forefront of enabling these technologies. 

It believes that software can play an important role in helping advance 5G and deliver new network solutions that offer step-change advancements in speed, cost and security. In a blog post on its website, Microsoft noted the significant opportunity for both incumbents and new players across the industry to innovate, collaborate and create new markets, serving the networking and edge computing needs of mutual customers.

Microsoft intends on serving the telecommunications industry as it continues its move to 5G and support both network equipment manufacturers and operators in their efforts to find solutions that are faster, easier and cost effective. As part of that effort, Affirmed Networks’ fully virtualised, cloud-native mobile network solutions promise to enable operators to simplify network operations, reduce costs and rapidly create and launch new revenue-generating services.

This acquisition will supposedly allow Microsoft to evolve its work with the telecommunications industry, building on its secure and trusted cloud platform for operators. With Affirmed Networks, the company will be able to offer new solutions tailored to the unique needs of operators, including managing their network workloads in the cloud.

“Previous generations of wireless networks have been based on purpose-built hardware. We believe that with innovation in software and by making use of broadly available cloud computing platforms like Microsoft Azure, operators can deploy and maintain 5G networks and services more efficiently, more cost effectively, more rapidly and more securely,” Microsoft noted in a blog post about the acquisition. 

“We look forward to building on the great work by Affirmed Networks with its leadership in virtualised mobile networks. Bringing this technology and team of experts into Microsoft allows us to extend our cloud offering to operators everywhere as they increasingly look to run their networks in a hybrid environment. We’re excited about our future together where carriers will be able to better leverage Microsoft’s cloud to improve overall profitability and create new revenue streams.”