Ericsson and Cisco, which in late 2015 established a global business and technology alliance, announced they have been selected to deliver and install IP routers for Nextel Brazil, owned by NII Holdings, to support traffic growth and improve network performance, marking their first joint project in the country.
Under the agreement in Brazil, the two companies will work together to supply and install IP routers for Nextel Brazil, which serves around 3 million subscribers, with the combined solution including hardware from Cisco and services and support from Ericsson. The deal specifically includes the deployment of Cisco ASR9010 routers, plus project management and customer support.
Recently, Cisco and Ericsson announced that Korek Telecom, a major mobile operator in Iraq serving around 7 million customers, had selected the companies to transform its IP core network to expand coverage and enhance services. Under the agreement, Ericsson, Korek Telecom’s longstanding network equipment provider, and Cisco will deploy new IP core network sites and optimise existing sites using the Cisco ASR 9000 router platform as part of the Ericsson Evolved IP network.
In January, Ericsson and Cisco announced they had been selected to transform and virtualise Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA)’s networks to help VHA prepare for new emerging services and to evolve its core network to increase agility and programmability via the use of network slicing. The companies noted the project represented their first major collaboration for Telecom Cloud infrastructure.
The Ericsson-Cisco partnership is designed to enable delivery of solutions incorporating advanced routing, data centre, networking, cloud, mobility, management and control, as well as global services capabilities. To date, the companies state they have signed more than 300 active customer engagements, including over 100 deals covering IP routing and transport and services with customers such as 3 Italy, Vodafone Portugal, Aster Dominican Republic, Cable & Wireless and Telefonica Guatemala.
