Continuing on its path to disrupt the industry by redefining the network, Cisco has announced its ‘5G Now’ portfolio for service providers ready to go full throttle on their 5G roadmap.

5G services promise to offer emerging new services at significantly faster speeds, expanded capacity and stronger coverage to accommodate the more than 27 billion connected devices1 expected on service provider networks by 2021. Beginning 2020, 5G connections will grow more than a thousand percent from 2.3 million in 2020 to over 25 million in 20212.

At Mobile World Congress this week, many technology vendors are focused on the spectrum advantages, radio equipment and architecture to support 5G services. Cisco is committed to showing service providers and mobile operators why 5G is important to plan for, and what they can really do with it. Cisco’s role here is focused on three things:

1. Services: Planning for new 5G-enabled services Cisco can help deliver
2. Infrastructure: Mapping the right 5G infrastructure to their needs
3. Automation: Helping to make the mass network scaling for 5G simpler to manage, operate and secure

Cisco uniquely offers its customers a cloud-to-client approach for 5G networking, resulting from its investments and commitment to developing cloud applications and services, to help customers unify multi-vendor solutions into a single, standards-based architecture. Key elements in the Cisco ‘5G Now’ portfolio include:

• Multi-cloud: Helping manage workloads across a full ecosystem of private, public, and hybrid clouds to connect enterprise, consumers, and service providers.
• IP Core: Cisco can expand programmability and capabilities of the network with real-time telemetry for automation, featuring the new Cisco NCS-500 Series of access routers with the Cisco IOS XR software as a single domain from the data center to the cell tower.
• 5G Packet Core and Service Edge: With Cisco Ultra, its cloud-native, mobile virtualized packet core, Cisco provides a unified platform for service enablement over licensed and unlicensed radio solutions and IoT services – all the way to the network edge.
• Access: Cisco offers a comprehensive solution that unifies cable, fiber, Wi-Fi, and a variety of licensed radio solutions including virtualized RAN architectures such as Open RAN. The new Cisco SONFlex Studio features drag-and-drop ease to create new self-organizing network (SON) APIs to customize service handling and quality of experience in the radio access network.
• Client Services: This is where the cloud meets the customer. Cisco will be demonstrating a number of client services that can be delivered today including Managed Cisco Spark for collaboration service over mobile, virtual managed services for cloud-based SD-WAN business services, and the Cisco Jasper platform for IoT.
• Security: Cisco secures the Service Provider from the cloud, to the network, to the client with its new 5G Security Architecture that builds upon the comprehensive portfolio of threat-centric solutions to securely enable 5G mobile networks. New offers include Stealthwatch for enhanced breach detection and visibility within Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and network slices, Stealthwatch Cloud for cloud-managed network security, and the Cisco Umbrella Security Suite.
• Professional Services: Cisco takes an open approach to partnering and co-developing with its customers to fit the right solution, offering experienced personnel to support the customers’ teams from start to finish.

Cisco’s ‘5G Now’ demonstrations are available at the Cisco booth in Hall 3 Hybrid Hall, #3E30.

More than 20 global service provider and mobile operator customers worldwide are advancing their 5G action plans with Cisco including Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and many others.

“STC is working closely with Cisco as a key technology partner to drive innovation for the future of Saudi Arabia communications,” said Eng. Nasser Al Nasser, chief operations officer, STC. “We are aligned with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 for a digital society that fosters growth in Saudi Arabia’s economy. Our plans to advance our communications infrastructure with programmability and automation will support a host of new services enabled by 5G spanning education, enterprise, health, IoT, recreation and tourism.”

“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.”

Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with our technology innovations in systems, silicon, optics and security, and our unrivalled expertise in mass-scale networking, automation, optical, cable access, video, and mobility. Together with our portfolio of professional services, we can enable service providers and media and web companies to reduce cost and complexity, help secure their networks and grow revenue.

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