Ahead of Mobile World Congress, Cisco has announced the launch of its new 5G portfolio to help service providers make a mark in the industry.
Announcements around 5G were expected to be high in frequency at MWC this year and Cisco has been the first to make the move, announcing the launch of its ‘5G Now’ Portfolio. The portfolio aims to help service providers boost their position in the 5G industry as the competition seriously heats up.
Using the portfolio Cisco hopes to enlighten providers on what is important to plan for and the extent 5G can benefit them. Cisco aims to focus on services, infrastructure and automation to help the entire platform much more simpler to operate.
The new portfolio will include various different elements to help customers achieve their ultimate 5G goals. This includes everything from multi-cloud to client services and security. Including multi-cloud, client services and professional services Cisco hopes to better connect and manage workloads across various cloud platforms to connect the network with enterprise, consumers and service providers.
Cisco’s client services include the use of Managed Cisco Spark for collaboration services over mobile, virtual managed services for cloud-based SD-WAN business services and the Cisco Jasper platform for IoT. The services will give extensive support to customers to develop the best solution, from start to finish.
Additionally, Cisco has included IP Core within its 5G Now portfolio. The IP Core element included in the portfolio features Cisco’s new NCS-500 Series of access routers, using the Cisco IOS XR software as a single domain. This allows Cisco to expand the capabilities of the network for customers with real-time telemetry, to enhance the use of automation.
“4G was about buying connectivity, and 5G is about buying experiences,” said Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, general manager, Service Provider Business, Cisco. “5G creates a new environment for service creation, giving operators what they need to deliver next-level entertainment experiences. Only Cisco has the services, infrastructure and automation portfolio to support our global customers with their 5G initiatives.”
Another key element to the portfolio is the security measures included. This includes various different security aspects such as Stealthwatch to bring enhanced breach detection and visibility within Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and network slices. Additionally, Cisco has included Stealthwatch Cloud for cloud-managed network security as well as the Cisco Umbrella Security suite.
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Pulling together all the elements of the portfolio, Cisco ultimately hopes to enable customers to reduce costs with 5G networks as well as ensuring a secure network and growth is available.
For those attending MWC this year, a demonstration of Cisco’s 5G Now portfolio will be available at Cisco’s boot in Hall 3.
