Cisco and NEC announced plans to expand their collaboration to include system integration solutions and potential opportunities in 5G xHaul and private 5G to help customers transform their architecture.

Cisco and NEC have expanded areas of collaboration under their Global Systems Integrator Agreement (GSIA) with augmented solutions for scalable 5G xHaul transport networks, such as enhanced capabilities for automation and routed optical networking to support operators’ monetization of 5G.

NEC will leverage its ecosystem and expertise as a global network integrator to overcome the complexity of multi-vendor networks. The company’s 5G Transport Centers of Excellence in EMEA and LATAM, with both local and regional engineering capabilities and a pool of global experience, will play a central role in navigating customers’ end-to-end network lifecycle and optimization in a phased approach.

“The needs for modernized architecture in 5G have enhanced our partnership with Cisco, leading us to this next level of partnership,” said Hideyuki Ogata, General Manager, Service Provider Solutions Department, NEC.

“Our collaboration has enabled some of the largest IP Networks using breakthrough architectures that change economics with routed optical networking, virtual routing, and 5G radio interoperability,” said Sanjay Kaul, President, Service Provider Business, Asia Pacific & Japan, Cisco.

In addition to transport xHaul networks, the two companies plan to work together in areas of IoT, 5G, and Wi-Fi, driving the next wave of industrial transformation.

Under the Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration program, work is in progress to qualify NEC’s UNIVERGE RV 1200 radio with Cisco’s Private 5G solution at Cisco’s 5G Showcase in Tokyo. The NEC UNIVERGE RV 1200 radio is designed and developed for the Japanese private 5G market.