Ericsson has signed a global deal with network specialist Ciena that will see the Swedish vendor integrate Ciena’s technologies into its own offerings, with the two firms collaborating on future technological development.

Dawinderpal Sahota

February 17, 2014

2 Min Read
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Ericsson has signed a global deal with network specialist Ciena that will see the Swedish vendor integrate Ciena’s technologies into its own offerings, with the two firms collaborating on future technological development.

The Swedish vendor will offer Ciena’s converged packet optical product portfolio to its customers migrating to converged network architectures. The US based firm’s WaveLogic coherent optical technology will also be integrated in to Ericsson’s IP portfolio and sold by the vendor as part of its IP router portfolio.

The two firms said they are committed to promoting the take up of open, programmable, software defined networks. They added that they are looking to combine their resources and expertise to jointly develop and bring to market SDN technology to operators.

“The strategic agreement combines Ciena’s and Ericsson’s strengths in the development of an open SDN network for converged IP and optical transport,” said Jan Häglund, VP and head of product area IP & Broadband at Ericsson.

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He added that reselling Ciena’s WaveLogic technology will allow Ericsson to complement its IP portfolio with improved packet optical products. “This will create an even stronger offering to our customers.”

Gary Smith, president and CEO at Ciena added that the telecoms sector is becoming characterised by more specialist players as “transformation accelerates toward open, programmable, multi-vendor networks that scale and adapt to network-level applications and services”.

Last week, Ciena teamed up with Saudi’s Mobily to launch the operator’s advanced connectivity services to enterprises in Saudi Arabia. Last month, the networking specialist also appointed Microsoft vice president for EMEA and Latin America Benoit de la Tour as VP and general manager for EMEA.

 

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