Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) will be the biggest and most well-known unit inside Nokia (NYSE:NOK) following Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) $7.2 billion deal to buy Nokia's handset business. The billions in net cash Nokia is expected to gain from the deal will go a long way toward positioning NSN as a strong network infrastructure company and could enable it to make inroads in areas such as self-organizing networks (SON) and software-defined networking (SDN), according to Strategy Analytics. The research firm thinks NSN is already poised for growth in RAN, SDN, cloud-based voice and IMS services. With Microsoft's new investment, NSN could become competitive in the network infrastructure core. This, in turn, would morph NSN into something of a "mini Ericsson" with "a very competitive cost structure," Strategy Analytics said. Article