A number of important mergers, agreements and partnership were announced in the managed service provider (MSP) and cloud services space this week. With more and more large and entrenched technology players buying up companies and technology that play in the managed services area, it is clear that these types of offerings are becoming mainstream and are being integrated into the core business objectives of many major tech companies.
In a huge communications services agreement, BT has teamed up with MDSL, a provider of telecom expense management (TEM) and market data management (MDM) services. MDSL's portfolio of mobile TEM products and services will be included in the BT global portfolio of managed mobility expense services through the agreement, aimed at both public and private sector customers. The alliance opens up market opportunities for both companies and is indicative of the growing demand for mobile TEM solutions.
Cisco also announced it has purchased a small share of cloud service delivery company Parallels, in an undisclosed equity investment. The companies will work on joint go-to-market activities and will focus on improving cloud service delivery capabilities. Parallels said Cisco has purchased one percent of the company, and that the deal does not rule out a possible future public offering. The announcement was made directly after Cisco announced it had purchased Israeli startup Intucell for $475 million. That company makes self-organization network (SON) software for mobile networks.
In other news for two major communications technology players, Ciena Corp is providing its MSP partner Comcast Cable with next-generation 100G coherent optical technology. Comcast will use the technology in its core network to help satisfy customer demand for high-speed and high-capacity services and applications like HD video, mobile data and cloud computing. The deployment will also help Comcast expand its network and will generate significant energy efficiencies as well.
Global Presence Alliance (GPA), the largest provider of audiovisual, videoconferencing and unified communications solutions in the world, will merge its partner program with the AV Global Alliance program from AVM Impact. The move will strengthen GPA's foothold in the industry and combine partners from more than 70 locations across five contents. The goal of the combined partner programs is to raise greater market awareness of the benefits of global collaboration.
