BT decides to resell some Cisco SD-WAN gear

UK telco group BT has launched a new global managed service based around Cisco software defined wide area network (SD-WAN) kit.

BT has a fairly established history of partnering with Cisco, so this is more of an extension of the existing relationship than something completely new. To date it has all been about the NFV and SDN so this latest initiative is pretty consistent with that.

Most of the announcement reads like a piece of Cisco marketing, detailing what a great idea ‘BT Connect Cisco SD-WAN’ is if you want to keep an eye on the data flows across your WAN. This is especially handy in the transition to the cloud, which seems to be a big reason why BT wants to add it to its managed services portfolio.

“Over 90 per cent of BT’s global WAN customers use Cisco technology and the vast majority ask us to manage it,” said Keith Langridge, VP of Network Services at BT. “Today’s announcement gives them a choice of physical or virtualised Cisco SD-WAN portfolio delivered as managed services backed by our excellent security credentials.

“We have a wealth of know-how and experience in designing hybrid networks and a global infrastructure engineered for SD-WAN and NFV service delivery. Organisations looking at taking their first step to SD-WAN can be reassured that in BT, they have an established, trusted Cisco partner able to give professional services advice to plan, build and evolve secure and reliable hybrid networks globally.”

“BT is offering the complete portfolio of Cisco SD-WAN-based solutions as managed services and doing so on a truly global scale,” said Scott Harrell, GM of the Enterprise Networking Business at Cisco. “Cisco SD-WAN, built on Viptela technology, is a great example of how intent-based networking is fundamentally changing the blueprint for networking.”

The extra bit of added value BT is claiming concerns its orchestration capabilities, indicating the whole package is aimed at companies generally looking to sort their virtualized lives out. The managed services part promises to hold their hands throughout their network evolution and the tone of the announcement suggests there are more BT/Cisco announcements to come.