Dell Technologies and Ericsson announced a strategic partnership to combine their industry expertise with telecom software, solutions and support, to guide communications service providers (CSPs) through their radio access network (RAN) cloud transformation journeys.
CSPs are looking to network cloud and operations transformation to achieve improved economics and agility, while maintaining network reliability, explained the companies in a press release.
According to MeriTalk study, sponsored by Dell Technologies, nine in 10 CSPs say network transformation is critical to their organization’s survival.
However, 96% of CSPs surveyed say their network transformation vision is lagging due to a variety of factors, including limited time and budget, as well as reliability and security concerns, ultimately holding them back from giving their customers a modern network.
"Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are facing a unique opportunity to transform their infrastructure and processes, creating new business opportunities and generating even more value for their customers. The partnership between Dell Technologies and Ericsson aims to assist CSPs in this process by working together to develop simple and reliable cloud-based network transformation strategies," said Sandro Tavares, Global Director of Telecommunications Marketing at Dell Technologies.
Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson, commented that working closer with Dell Technologies will help further develop cloud-native programmable networks that bring new ideas and practices to the telecom market.
“Building upon years of collaboration, this strategic partnership will strengthen our cloudification efforts as we gear up to launch Open RAN-based commercial solutions. The cloud-native network will enable frequent updates and the rollout of new features using continuous deployment. It will ease the adoption of Cloud RAN technologies and prepare both companies’ portfolios for new markets,” expressed Jejdling.
Through the new agreement, Dell and Ericsson will collaborate to develop tailored network cloud transformation plans and advise CSPs on network architectures and operating models, while also reducing the risks associated with deploying on open, multi-vendor environments.
Dell and Ericsson plan to co-create solutions that drive energy efficiencies and innovate on Cloud RAN infrastructure operations.
The partnership will commercially introduce Ericsson Cloud RAN software on Dell PowerEdge servers. The solution will offer continuous integration testing and lifecycle management to speed deployment and de-risk day-2 operations around updates and upgrades, with Dell as a solution partner.
Together, they will co-develop services that simplify the entire deployment process from factory validation to installation and ongoing operational management, backed by Dell and Ericsson’s joint support for any integrated solution.