Colt teams up with Cisco to give mobile service providers a 5G option

Colt Technology Services has teamed up with Cisco to make sure it is in a position to have a solution that will help mobile service providers offer 5G services.

Cisco will be adding its segment routing and Ethernet VPN architecture on top of Colt's IQ Network to give MSPs the chance to offer 5G to customers.

The partnership is not only designed to produce something technically robust enough to meet those looking for flexible connectivity options but will also reduce the financial exposure of service providers by giving them the chance to share connectivity costs along with individual SLAs.

Peter Coppens, vice president, product portfolio at Colt, said that the arrival of 5G gave MSPs and their customers more opportunities as people took advantage of the high bandwidth on offer.

"We have worked closely with Cisco to design a network architecture that is simple to operate, highly available, and capable of delivering the innovative network services that are required for 5G," he said.

The emphasis on helping more partners get involved was also the motivation behind Cisco’s involvement.

“With every new mobile technology comes complexity, and 5G is no different. We are proud to support Colt as a strategic partner in its mission to simplify 5G deployments,” said  Sumeet Arora, svp and general manager service provider routing at Cisco.

“Cisco’s highly programmable segment routing architecture will enable Colt to lower the barriers of entry for MSPs, reducing costs and significantly speeding up the delivery of 5G services," he added.

Other partnerships are also being formed in the channel by firms keen to make sure they are ready to take advantage of 5G and networking advances.

Earlier today it was announced that Tata Communications Transformation Services has teamed up with Zeetta Networks and 5G was a big theme at last month's Mobile World Congress, with several firms releasing products to support the move to the latest technology.

One of those was F5, which launched a range of 5G services to try to help those using 4G to get ready to make the transition.

“After years of preparing for 5G, we’re seeing progress as telecoms and service providers begin to implement the infrastructure to make its promise a reality,” said James Feger, vice president and general manager, service provider at F5.

“We’re delivering virtualisation solutions and custom services that help them maximise the substantial investments in their current 4G networks now, while optimising their infrastructure to enable the scale required to deploy the 5G networks tomorrow," he added.