Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) announced a global business and technology partnership with Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO). The partnership will combine routing, data center, networking, cloud, mobility, management and control, and global services capabilities. The two companies will work together on network architectures for 5G, cloud and IP, and the Internet of things (IoT).
The deal is supported by multiple agreements including a global service partner agreement, as well as a broad reseller agreement. The parties have also agreed to discuss FRAND policies and enter a licensing agreement for their respective patent portfolios.
As a result of the partnership, Ericsson expects to extend its addressable market and to generate $1 billion or more of additional sales by 2018 (full year). The extended addressable market is primarily in professional services, software and resell of Cisco products.
Ericsson and Cisco will continue to explore further joint business opportunities as the partnership progresses. Teams from both organizations will also begin working on a joint initiative focused on SDN/NFV and network management and control.
For more, see this article from our sister publication Lightwave.