Building on existing partnership, Ericsson and Cisco will further collaborate on IoT, security, Wi-Fi and data center switching
Ericsson and Cisco have expanded the scope of a strategic agreement to now include new areas of business such as data center switching, Wi-Fi, security and the “internet of things.”
Speaking during the company’s recent Investor Update 2016 event in New York City, Rima Qureshi, Ericsson’s SVP and head of North America, said after discussion with telecom operators and other customers, the two companies realized the business opportunities were beyond the initial areas of focus of the strategic agreement, which were core and IP networks.
“The partnership has been very successful over the course of the last year,” Qureshi said. “We have got over 250 engagements and we have announced more than 60 joint business wins together with Cisco. Some of these wins are public and some of these wins which we have not announced publicly.”
The strategic agreement expansion is set to include industrial IoT as well as enterprise and public sector (transport, utility and smart city), the executive added. “The strategic agreement is not only focused on North America. The opportunities and the wins that we have are global,” Qureshi added.
The executive also said Ericsson and Cisco are currently working to identify the areas in which combined offerings have competitive advantages. “As we move forward we will be looking at another ways in which we can collaborate and innovate,” Qureshi said.
Ericsson claims to have reached 2,500 Cisco networking certifications, the executive added.
Ericsson and Cisco signed a strategic partnership in November 2015, with the main aim of offering a single platform for telecom operators, which is expected to produce at least $1 billion in incremental revenue opportunities for each company beginning in 2018.
The strategic partnership initially focused on areas including “5G,” cloud, IoT, network functions virtualization and software-defined networking.
Qureshi also provided an update on the outlook for Ericsson’s operations in North America, including expectations for the first commercial 5G networks in the region to launch in 2018-2019.
Qureshi said North American operators are focusing on delivering and monetizing video traffic on mobile networks and heavily investing in IoT across industries.
