BARCELONA, Spain -- Top executives from Cisco and Ericsson said that while it's only been 73 days since the two firms announced their partnership deal, they have already had 200 interactions with customers in every region of the world, many of which are resulting in deals.
Speaking at the Ericsson media and analyst event, here, Hilton Romanski, chief strategy officer at Cisco, said that the partnership between the two has resulted in multiple customer deals, many of which are focused on IP backhaul and data centre transformation. He also said they have a "transformational" cable and TV opportunity in the Americas. "It's incredible to reflect that it's been 73 working days since the partnership was announced. And we've worked together every one of those days."
Rima Qureshi, chief strategy officer at Ericsson, said that the two companies have partnered on six solutions, four of which are hardware -- mobile backhaul, IP core, VPN and cable. Two solutions are in the IP and IT managed service and IT transformation area.
The two firms also announced a joint product, the Dynamic Service Manager, which combines research and development from both companies as well as intellectual property. The Dynamic Service Manager allows for real-time management of network services via multiple technology and vendor domains. It will initially focus on multi-vendor mobile backhaul, IP core and enterprise VPNs. The product is scheduled to be released in the second half of the year.
In addition, the two firms said they are also working with Intel to develop a 5G router for homes and businesses. Initially the router will be used in Verizon Wireless' 5G trial, which is under way in the U.S. Cisco, Ericsson and Intel are part of Verizon's 5G Technology Forum, along with Qualcomm and Samsung.
Ericsson and Cisco formed their global business and technology partnership in November, stating that the move would generate at least $1 billion (€928 million) in extra revenue for each company by 2018.
At the time, the two companies said the partnership would "combine the best of both companies", focusing on areas including routing, data centres, networking, cloud, mobility, management and control, and global services capabilities.
Since the deal was announced, the two companies have denied speculation that the partnership resulted from a failed attempt by Cisco to acquire Ericsson.
For more:
- see Ericsson's Dynamic Service Manager announcement
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