Ericsson and Cisco partner to create the networks of the future

Ericsson  and Cisco, two industry leaders in the development and delivery of networking, mobility, and cloud –announced a global business and technology partnership to create the networks of the future.

The multi-faceted relationship will offer customers the best of both companies: routing, data center, networking, cloud, mobility, management and control, and global services capabilities. Together the companies plan to deliver customer value by:

• Offering service provider customers an end-to-end product and services portfolio, and joint innovation that accelerates new business models,
• Creating the mobile enterprise experience of the future through a highly secure technology architecture for seamless indoor/outdoor networks, and
• Channeling the combined scale and innovation of both companies to accelerate the platforms and services needed to digitize countries and create the Internet of Things.

In a world driven by mobility, cloud, and digitization, the networks of the future will require new design principles to ensure they are agile, autonomous, and highly secure. Ericsson and Cisco will meet this challenge together by offering end-to-end leadership across network architectures including 5G, cloud, IP, and the Internet of Things – from devices and sensors to access and core networks to the enterprise IT cloud. Customers will be able to accelerate their business transformation by drawing on the parties’ complementary capabilities, including global services capabilities such as consulting, integration, and support to managed operations across IT and networks.

Today’s announcement will be supported by multiple agreements that include commitments to network transformation through reference architectures and joint development, systems-based management and control, a broad reseller agreement, and collaboration in key emerging market segments. The parties have also agreed to discuss FRAND policies and enter a licensing agreement for their respective patent portfolios, enabling unfettered joint innovation and providing certainty for customers of both organizations. As part of this agreement, Ericsson will receive license fees from Cisco.

Ericsson and Cisco are strong and complementary partners, with a combined 56,000+ patents, $11 billion of research and development investment, and more than 76,000 services professionals serving customers across more than 180 countries.

The strategic partnership will be a key driver of growth and value for the next decade, with each company benefiting from incremental revenue in calendar year 2016 and expected to ramp to $1 billion or more for each by 2018. New and greater opportunities are also expected, as the partnership enables both companies to drive their efforts and investments to deliver value in growth markets.

Teams from both organizations will also begin working on a joint initiative focused on SDN/NFV and network management and control.