Wheeling And Dealing: Top 6 Telecom Moves Impacting The Channel In December

Year-End Plans and Partnerships

In the true spirit of the season, December saw a lot of carriers and service providers building on their existing partnerships, or forging new agreements to bring more services and solutions to channel partners and end customers. Cloud consolidation continued, and providers gave security another boost as the year drew to a close.

In case you missed it, here's a review of telecom and service provider news and moves that happened in December, and then check out the 10 Biggest Telco Stories of 2015.

AT&T Hands Over Data Center Offerings, Managed Services To IBM

Carriers continued to pull out of the cloud infrastructure market in December. Building off its existing partnership with IBM, AT&T said it will transition its managed application and managed hosting services unit to IBM. Big Blue plans to align the carrier's managed service capabilities within its IBM Cloud portfolio.

Under the terms of the deal, Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM will acquire equipment and access to floor space in AT&T data centers that are currently supporting the Dallas-based carrier's applications and managed hosting operations. Following the close of the deal, IBM will deliver and take over the management of AT&T's managed applications and managed hosting services, while AT&T will continue to provide networking services including security, cloud networking and mobility, the companies said.

Verizon Offers Private Connection To IBM Cloud

Verizon added IBM's cloud services to its growing list of cloud provider environments that customers can securely and directly connect into via Verizon's Secure Cloud Interconnect offering.

The flexible, private IP network that Secure Cloud Interconnect uses now lets customers connect to IBM Cloud Services using Secure Cloud Interconnect's SDN capabilities to move workloads between multiple clouds, or even from an on-premise IT environment, Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon said.

Today, Secure Cloud Interconnect customers can directly connect to IBM's Cloud data center sites in Dallas and San Jose, Calif., in the U.S. and in Tokyo and Sydney. According to Verizon, two additional sites in Europe are planned for the beginning of 2016.

Vonage Now Optimized With VeloCloud SD-WAN

Internet telephony service provider Vonage launched a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) service that can ensure the quality of service of its unified communications. The new service, Vonage SmartWAN, is powered by Mountain View, Calif.-based telecom service provider VeloCloud.

VeloCloud's cloud-based SD-WAN technology offers multipath optimization and on-demand remediation capabilities across multiple networks or over a single connection, including private MPLS or broadband Internet connections. This technology will help businesses maximize their connections to optimize and ensure the reliability of Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage's voice, data and video communications -- especially critical business applications such as virtual desktop and hosted email, the companies said.

Vonage SmartWAN will be made publicly available in early 2016, VeloCloud said.

NTT Offerings Available To HP Customers Via New Partnership

Telecommunications provider NTT Communications made its global portfolio of cloud infrastructure offerings available to Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) customers via a partnership between HPE and NTT Com’s U.S. subsidiary, NTT America.

The new partnership between NTT America and HPE lets U.S. customers buy NTT Communications Infrastructure as a Service offerings, including enterprise private, public and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Customers can also purchase NTT America's professional services including cloud migration, data center consolidation, managed infrastructure services, and disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS). All cloud solutions are powered by HPE technology and are delivered over IT infrastructure owned and operated by NTT Communications, according to NTT.

NTT's services were made available in December to HPE customers through the HPE Partner Ready Program for Service Providers.

Netherlands Tapping Telecom Providers For Large-Scale IoT Rollout

Amsterdam-based financial banking cooperation BiQ Group launched its second series of funds to encourage the national rollout of an Internet of Things network and the development of peripherals equipment in the Netherlands.

Approximately 22 billion devices will be connected to the Internet within the next five years, but the Netherlands has no meaningful national network, said the BiQ Group. The new funds already include an IoT telecom operator, an IT vendor that develops IoT products, and a cloud data and storage provider. Together, these companies will create a platform for the creation and on-boarding of new IoT products.

Unlike traditional banks, BiQ Group connects businesses, entrepreneurs and investors to provide financial services. The group also rolls out various funds to encourage supply and demand within specific markets, according to the group.

Allot Communications, Nokia Team Up To Give Swisscom's Data Center Services A Boost

Swiss telecom provider Swisscom now has cloud optimization technology built into its data center services thanks to a partnership between bandwidth management and IP service optimization provider Allot Communications and data networking and telecommunications equipment provider Nokia Networks.

Woburn, Mass.-based Allot and Nokia, based in Finland, are jointly delivering Allot Cloud Access Optimization to Swisscom. Swisscom worked with Nokia Networks to integrate the Allot Cloud Access Optimization platform into its new data center architecture. Nokia is using Allot's technology to enhance visibility, control and security for Swisscom. The Swiss provider can in turn offer more flexible data center services to its enterprise customers.

With the cloud optimization technology in place, Swisscom can help its enterprise customers overcome degradation and communications quality challenges, including real-time video workloads and file transfers, as well as denial-of-service attacks, the companies said.