Ericsson tapped by Verizon Enterprise Solutions to provide enabling support for NFV services

·         Digital transformation effort to provide next evolution of virtual network services for Verizon customers worldwide

·         Dynamic orchestration will help drive rapid delivery of digital enterprise services

·         Ericsson's agile solutions help reduce time-to-market and stimulate innovation by enabling third-party partners to create, test and on-board virtual network functions

Verizon Enterprise Solutions has selected Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) to provide enabling technologies for its virtualized global Managed Network Services offerings, including Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD WAN) services.

The enabling technologies will allow Verizon customers to take advantage of self-service ordering and configuration, end-to-end automation and flexible payment models resulting in more efficient service delivery. The self-service offerings will give enterprises the flexibility to dynamically combine virtualized features from a catalog of service options such as security packages, WAN optimization and data center load balancing for tighter service integration and better performance.

Ericsson is providing to Verizon end-to-end dynamic orchestration, closed-loop service assurance and virtual network function (VNF) onboarding and testing. The solution is based on Ericsson's orchestration offering in conjunction with consulting and systems integration services. Ericsson Cloud Manager, including model-driven configuration management, and Ericsson Order Care provide the orchestration engine while the VNF Factory enables efficient onboarding and validation of VNFs into Verizon's ecosystem, while reducing its time to market for new Verizon enterprise services.

Shawn Hakl, Vice President of Networking and Security Solutions, Verizon, says: "This project grew out of Verizon's long-standing relationship with Ericsson and builds on the successful launch of our mobile offering that leverages Ericsson's cloud orchestration solutions to provide VPN capabilities for mobile devices. We are jointly developing on Ericsson's innovative and comprehensive platform to enable a wide range of secure virtual networking services to our enterprise customers."

As part of Verizon's Managed SD WAN offerings, Ericsson's solution enables Verizon to holistically govern, manage and orchestrate hybrid client networks in real time, turning legacy networks into elastic infrastructures that are lightweight, programmable and more adaptable. 

Verizon also will use additional Ericsson solutions and services to stimulate a partner ecosystem for enterprise-oriented Virtual Network Functions (VNF). Third parties will provide VNFs that can be tested and on-boarded to Verizon's VNF catalog for bundling by Verizon and selection by its enterprise customers.

Jean-Philippe Poirault, Head of Business Unit IT & Cloud Services at Ericsson, says: "Our latest work together in NFV Orchestration will help Verizon to continue to lead the industry with its hybrid managed networks at scale. Verizon offers the flexibility, speed and scale required for proactively meeting the needs of enterprise customers worldwide."

Ericsson's forward-looking initiative for dynamic orchestration based on our work with Verizon will be on display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Ericsson at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Anything can happen on the digital frontier, a promising but undiscovered future. From February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona, Spain, Ericsson is demonstrating a collaborative approach and innovative solution to succeed in this arena.

With our customers and partners, we work across industries, physical boundaries and perceived limitations. Join us in Hall 2 or online during MWC 2017 and engage in conversations and demonstrations about our favorite things: 5G; platforms and services for IT, Cloud, Networks, and TV & Media; connected solutions for industries; the Internet of Things; and partnering for success.

Ericsson is a world leader in communications technology and services with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Our organization consists of more than 111,000 experts who have provided customers in 180 countries with innovative solutions and services. Together we are building a more connected future where anyone and any industry is empowered to reach their full potential. Net sales in 2016 were SEK 222.6 billion (USD 24.5 billion). Ericsson is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on NASDAQ in New York. Read more on www.ericsson.com.