BARCELONA, SPAIN–(Marketwired – Feb 27, 2017) – MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) – As businesses increasingly digitize, mobile carriers will need the speed, low latency, and dynamic provisioning capabilities that 5G networks are expected to deliver to address increasing subscriber demands and new services trends.

Verizon is seizing the opportunity by building one of the largest 5G proving grounds in the world with collaboration from Cisco. As a member of the Verizon 5G Technology Forum, Cisco will help Verizon drive 5G innovation around the network and provide services needed to help enable their joint enterprise and SMB customers to receive the best connectivity experience that 5G can offer.

Cisco is bringing key elements of its 5G-ready mobile architecture to Verizon’s 5G pre-commercial pilots, such as:

• Virtualized, cloud-based, 5G Technology Forum compliant packet core as part of the Cisco Ultra Service Platform. This increases service velocity by providing on-boarding and operational simplification for virtual network functions (VNFs) that help enable individual applications to be delivered to customers in real-time. In the network transport space, Cisco will also bring mobile backhaul infrastructure to deliver the faster gigabit broadband speeds 5G will offer.
• Virtual Managed Services, a software platform that uses virtualization, automation, analytics and cloud to rapidly deploy security and network services, such as Cisco iWAN and threat-centric security solutions. As part of this effort, Cisco will also be deploying a pre-release version of a 5G-enabled router to deliver advanced services to enterprise, branch, and small-medium businesses. 

“The accelerating customer adoption of a wireless, cloud based, digital paradigm is driving us toward 5G network innovation,” said Ed Chan, SVP of Technology Strategy & Planning at Verizon. “The technology partnership with Cisco is helping us accelerate the deployment of new enterprise 5G services to support our enterprise customers with improved security, scalability, and agility in their digitization journey.”

In addition to developing technologies that enable greater service agility, Verizon and Cisco will explore the connectivity and performance of the 5G network and how it can be harnessed across industry verticals. A new set of business applications, for instance leveraging augmented or virtual reality, will require 5G’s low latency, quality of service and high capacity to be delivered across the network. This will allow both interactive and immersive experiences in ways that have never been delivered before. 

“Cisco shares our vision for the network of the future, powered by 5G,” said Shawn Hakl, VP of Business Networking and Security Services,Verizon. “As part of this activity, Verizon and Cisco will use enterprise SD-WAN functions that interact with the carrier 5G network to integrate security policy and manage the performance of applications such as unified communications.”

“Cisco and Verizon are transforming how businesses can tap into the incredible potential of 5G,” said Yvette Kanouff, SVP and GM, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “Verizon is building the network of tomorrow to support 5G, and Cisco is honored to be a part of both their full architectural approach and vision to translate these new technical capabilities to the business benefit of their customers.”

Supporting Resources

• Verizon to deliver 5G service to pilot customers in 11 markets across U.S. by Mid 2017
• Cisco Service Provider business
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