Telecom operator Verizon is building one of the largest 5G networks in the world with collaboration from networking major Cisco.

Cisco, as a member of the Verizon 5G Technology Forum, will assist Verizon to drive 5G innovation around the network and provide services to enable their joint enterprise and SMB customers to receive the best connectivity from 5G.

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Cisco is bringing virtualized, cloud-based packet core as part of the Cisco Ultra Service Platform. This increases service velocity by providing on-boarding and operational simplification for virtual network functions (VNFs).

Cisco will bring mobile backhaul infrastructure in the network transport space to deliver the faster gigabit broadband speeds 5G will offer.

Verizon will utilize Cisco’s Virtual Managed Services software platform to deploy security and network services, such as CiscoiWAN and threat-centric security solutions. Cisco will also be deploying a pre-release version of a 5G-enabled router to deliver advanced services to enterprise, branch, and small-medium businesses.

“The technology partnership with Cisco is helping us accelerate the deployment of new enterprise 5G services to support our enterprise customers with improved security, scalability, and agility in their digitization journey,” said Ed Chan, SVP of Technology Strategy & Planning at Verizon.

“As part of this activity, Verizon and Ciscowill use enterprise SD-WAN functions that interact with the carrier 5G network to integrate security policy and manage the performance of applications such as unified communications,” said Shawn Hakl, VP of Business Networking and Security Services at Verizon.