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Verizon Business, Cisco expand SD-WAN managed service offer
US comms provider enhances software-defined wide area network portfolio with three new offers from network equipment and services firm to provide more options for building flexible and agile networking infrastructure
With software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) gaining traction as companies across the work address the new normal of business with hybrid working environments, IT and communications services provider Verizon Business has expanded its longstanding strategic partnership with Cisco with the addition of three new SD-WAN managed services offerings.
The expansion is designed to provide enterprises with what Verizon says will be an extensive global footprint, access to new systems and capabilities, as well as a management and policy administration model to support companies’ desired business outcomes.
The combined expansion includes a co-managed Cisco SD-WAN powered by Viptela which is designed to provide customers with the option to control and self-manage SD-WAN security and application policies, while relying on Verizon managed service support for fault, performance and configuration management.
This co-managed capability is now available to Verizon customers and is said to give them the flexibility to relieve their IT team of the deployment and day-to-day running of the network, yet have the ability to make changes themselves to SD-WAN policies and configurations when necessary.
It also includes a managed SD-WAN powered by Viptela for the Cisco ISR1100 Series platform that the two partners say would be ideal for smaller branch office deployments, providing customers with secure SD-WAN services on a high-performance, low-cost branch appliance.
The partnership also sees the introduction of new managed service tiers for Cisco SD-WAN powered by Meraki, which complements Verizon’s complete Cisco Meraki cloud-first platform managed services to deliver seamless, secure connectivity, as well as global deployment support including mainland China.
Verizon has also added a new capability for management of Cisco Meraki MV smart cameras to help enable faster management and troubleshooting from a single source of contact.
“Global enterprises are taking a hard look at their digital transformation agendas to find ways to win coming off one of the more challenging years in recent history,” said Aamir Hussain, senior vice-president of business products at Verizon Business. “Working with Cisco, we continue to provide innovative solutions that can give customers the choice and tools they need to enhance efficiencies and grow.
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“These new services reflect the significant ongoing joint Cisco and Verizon research and development investments which aim to help customers accelerate change.”
Scott Harrell, senior vice-president and general manager of Cisco’s Intent-Based Networking Group, added: “Our strategic relationship with Verizon continues to create value for businesses supporting a growing distributed mobile workforce and the accelerated adoption of cloud services.
“As businesses modernise their networks to enable the best user application experiences, Verizon’s new Cisco SD-WAN managed services can help them quickly and easily transition to SD-WAN with flexible options to help deliver business agility and secure connectivity to applications across multiple clouds.”
The enhancement of the Verizon SD-WAN offer comes just days after the company announced it was teaming with Deloitte to offer a 5G and mobile edge computing retail industry digital platform. The platform is designed to enable retailers to gain in-store data with near-real-time analytics to improve customer engagement, inventory efficiency and staff productivity.
