LISBON, Portugal, September 22, 2010 – Portugal Telecom and Cisco today announced the extension of their collaboration for the joint development, deployment and launch of world-class cloud computing services based on the Cisco® Unified Service Delivery data centre and network architecture, which provides the foundation for a broad array of cloud computing services.
The two companies have defined a road map of cloud computing services based on an integrated Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) and data centre infrastructure. The cloud computing deployment will help enable businesses to dramatically reduce upfront investment costs in information technology while accelerating innovation by adopting new services on a global scale.
Facts
- Portugal Telecom collaborated with Cisco to design and build its underlying cloud computing infrastructure based on a brand-new data centre.
- This development is an important step in the execution of Portugal Telecom's IP NGN strategy, which also includes the rollout of fiber to more than a million homes and businesses. This high-speed, intelligent network infrastructure helps enable next-generation cloud computing services.
- In the first phase of this project, starting toward the end of 2010, Portugal Telecom will provide a compute-as-a-service solution, offering businesses greater flexibility and lower costs than buying, installing and maintaining new servers in-house. These cloud-based services are planned to be available to businesses in Portugal as well as in selected Portugal Telecom international markets.
- Cloud computing services will support large organisations as well as small and medium-sized businesses, the latter being an especially important market segment, given that SMBs account for 75 percent of the employment and 56 percent of the gross domestic product in Portugal.
- By using the Cisco USD solution across its data centre infrastructure, Portugal Telecom will have a common platform for innovation. A complete set of future applications and services is already in the companies' joint cloud road map, including collaboration as a service and VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) services.
- In the continued spirit of collaborative innovation, Cisco and Portugal Telecom are strongly committed to remain at the forefront of joint innovation in cloud services.
Supporting Quotes
- Zeinal Bava, chief executive officer, Portugal Telecom
- Chris Dedicoat, president, European Markets, Cisco
"The time has come to cut the complexity out of IT infrastructure. With advanced broadband and intelligent networks, we can deliver powerful cloud-based IT services with none of the pains of traditional infrastructure projects. These innovative services will allow our clients to adopt more efficient business models and democratize technology services to large, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. Portugal Telecom is a market-leading innovator in a privileged position to deliver premium, advanced cloud computing services in the Portuguese market. In order to keep giving our customers the most advanced services we have to work with partners like Cisco, who share our passion for customer-focused innovation."
"Portugal Telecom and Cisco are taking a step forward in delivering on a joint promise of innovation. In the business, at home and now in the cloud, our proposition is underpinned by customer-focused solutions and a solid joint go-to-market strategy. Portugal Telecom has been quick to catch the market transition of IT services shifting into the cloud. They gain competitive advantage in the IT market by enabling their customers to consume high-quality cloud computing services with an as-a-service business model, which accelerates innovation and increases the productivity of business."
Supporting Resources:
- Portugal Telecom
- Cisco
- Cisco Unified Service Delivery
- Read: Cisco SP360 Blog
- Follow the Cisco SP360 team on Twitter and Cisco SP360 on Facebook
Tags / Keywords:
Portugal Telecom, Cisco Fiber, Cloud Services, Data Center, Data Centre, Virtualization, Cloud Computing, Cisco Services, Unified Service Delivery, Service Provider
RSS Feed for Cisco:
