Ericsson gets its own Windy Italian job

Ericsson has announced it has won a contract to virtualise and upgrade the core network of Italian operator Wind Tre as part of the 5G-evolution core modernization strategy.

With the five-year contract set to kick off this quarter includes the delivery of a self-contained project to deploy a virtualized core network and orchestration capabilities according to ETSI NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) group standards.

“This is another big step in the journey that Wind Tre is making to provide the best quality network and high value services to our customers,” said Benoit Hanssen, Chief Technology Officer of Wind Tre. “We are transforming to be ready for the digital revolution that 5G and IoT will bring. We are pleased to partner with Ericsson on this important deal which secures a deep knowledge of the existing technology and will provide a state-of-the-art virtualized network.”

“This deal strengthens our core network business with Wind Tre to evolve its existing network and be the partner for their evolution to cloud,” said Arun Bansal, Head of Market Area Europe and Latin America at Ericsson. “We will provide state-of-the-art virtual core network applications, NFV infrastructure, orchestration and end-to-end professional services enabling Wind Tre to provide great experiences to its customers and opening up IoT opportunities as we move towards 5G. This deal is the result of our joint efforts and close working relationship in previous years with both Wind and Tre.”

The contract will make use of various Ericsson technologies including virtual EPC, virtual IMS and virtual UDC (User Data Consolidation), deployed on Ericsson’s NFVi solution which aligns with the ETSI NFV Architectural Framework and the ETSI Management and Orchestration (MANO) architecture.