Ericsson, Cisco to virtualize VHA’s core, IP network

Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), operator of the Vodafone Australia brand, has engaged Ericsson and Cisco to evolve and virtualize the operator’s core and IP network.

Ericsson has won a contract to lead the transformation program, building the infrastructure as well as delivering an end-to-end operational system.

The vendors will deliver a joint architecture solution comprising an Ericsson hyperscale data center system and software components, as well as Cisco’s WAN automation engine, network service orchestrator, IP network VNFs and security gateway.

Through the project, VHA plans to simplify its network and infrastructure to enable the operator to become more agile and proactive in the way it brings services to market. The transformation also promises to reduce opex and capex and ultimately improve the customer experience.

The deal marks the first major collaboration between Ericsson and Cisco on telecoms cloud infrastructure, and comes as part of the global business and technology partnership the two vendors formed in November 2015.

“Ericsson and Cisco are our existing providers of core and routing functions making

them good partners to move into a virtualized environment,” VHA CTO Kevin Millroy said.

“This transformation allows us to introduce new applications to drive innovation and improve customer services and user experience. The new infrastructure opens the door to new business models and markets – such as IoT for Vodafone. We are excited about the future prospects this partnership offers.”