Cisco and NTT DATA bring 5G access to 180 countries

Cisco and NTT DATA bring 5G access to 180 countries

Cisco and NTT DATA are joining forces. Through Cisco’s eSIM technology and NTT DATA’s Transatel network, users can connect to 5G worldwide.

The offering will initially be housed in embedded Cisco solutions. Access to the 5G network is available to users in 180 countries. This broad deployment is spearheaded by NTT DATA, which serves nearly every country with connectivity.

Trouble-free access

With the combined solution, access should be seamless for organizations. Mobile networks are deployed for primary or secondary connectivity. Monitoring and managing the new enterprise networks can be done globally. But for whom is this partnership of interest? “There are multiple use cases across industries such as retail, manufacturing, hospitality, financial services and others, where there is a real need to standup secure mobile branch services at short notice,” says Andrew Brown, Practice Lead IoT Research, Omdia.

He explains that the simple startup process is critical for organizations to scale. That scalability is central to the solution Cisco and NTT DATA have now announced. Both parties additionally promise simple and flexible pricing for the service.

“With NTT DATA, we strongly believe we can enable a faster, simpler, and more convenient way for enterprises to securely connect their organizations through an enhanced setup and provisioning process,” said Masum Mir, SVP/GM, Cisco Provider Mobility. He sees the collaboration as a “game-changer” for organizations. One of its capabilities, “on-demand SD-WAN,” replaces the conventional form. SD-WAN can cost a lot of money to set up, something the new offering should counteract.

Multiple collaborations

NTT DATA is working with several parties to strengthen 5G access. In early October, for example, it entered into a partnership with Nokia to serve places not equipped with 5G. It is also collaborating on security, namely with Palo Alto Networks to scan for cyber threats proactively.