Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) says that Ericsson and Cisco Systems will transform and virtualize its networks to better prepare for new emerging services and to evolve its core network to increase agility and programmability via network slicing.
The deal will help simplify VHA’s network and infrastructure. VHA says it will benefit from having the tools to become more agile, innovative and more pro-active in the way services are brought to market, ultimately resulting in improved customer engagement experience alongside reductions in opex and capex spend.
The joint architecture solution comprises Ericsson Hyperscale Datacenter System and software components such as Ericsson Cloud Execution Environment, Ericsson Cloud Manager, Cloud SDN controller; together with Cisco WAN Automation Engine, Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO), Cisco IP Network VNFs including IOS XR 9000v and Cloud Services Router 1000v, and both virtualized and physical security technologies such as the Adaptive Security Appliance and Cisco Firepower security gateway, along with services and support.
This builds on VHA’s selection, in 2014, of Ericsson to replace and upgrade VHA’s complete core network, including virtual EPC and virtual IMS/ Voice over LTE, says Kevin Millroy, chief technology officer at VHA.
“Ericsson and Cisco are our existing providers of core and routing functions, making them good partners to move into a virtualized environment,” he said.
Millroy added that the transformation enables VHA to introduce new applications to drive innovation and improve customer services and user experience. “The new infrastructure opens the door to new business models and markets, such as Internet of Things for Vodafone – we are excited about the future prospects this partnership offers.”
“As the prime integrator, Ericsson is taking responsibility for integration of the Ericsson and Cisco, not only building the infrastructure, but ensuring the delivery of an end-to-end operational system,” said Rima Qureshi, Head of Region North America and responsible for the strategic partnership with Cisco at Ericsson.
The deal represents the first major collaboration between Ericsson and Cisco on telecom cloud infrastructure since they formed a global business and technology partnership in November 2015.
“Cisco and Ericsson have been working with key strategic accounts around the globe to validate a telecom cloud infrastructure,” said Yvette Kanouff senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s service provider business. “This broad and significant engagement with VHA demonstrates how our two companies are utilizing our complementary assets to deliver technical and commercial innovation and systems integration leadership to the benefit of our customers.”
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