Two of the biggest global vendors announced a strategic partnership this morning. Cisco and Ericsson are teaming up to 'create networks of the future'.
The new relationship will aim to offer end-to-end portfolios of products, joint innovation, and the combined scale that the two can bring to the table.
Supporting the broad umbrella announcement will be multiple agreements on patent sharing/licensing, R&D, standards development, a reseller agreement, and collaboration in emerging market segments.
The announcement is quite a read, although for me it doesn't say all that much other than that the two will be working together in what they hope will be a complementary and profitable way.
That's to be expected with a high level agreement like this I guess, but the thing to watch is exactly how the two companies' approach to the market shifts as a result. That will play out over the next few years.
Cisco and Ericsson see an incremental revenue opportunity of $1 billion or more for each company by 2018 across the worlds of 5G, cloud, IP, and the IoT. I wonder whose pocket they hope that will come out of... Huawei perhaps? Nokia/Alcatel-Lucent? Both probably.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.