The newer generation of networks, which AT&T began
rolling out in 2018, is designed to rely more heavily on software and data
centers for routing traffic rather than telecommunications specific gear.
Microsoft, which analysts believe to be the second largest
cloud computing provider by revenue behind rival Amazon Web Services, has been
building out specific cloud computing offering to go after carriers, and
AT&T is the Redmond, Washington-based company's first major win.
The two also said that Microsoft will purchase software and
intellectual property developed by AT&T to help build out its offerings for
carriers. The companies did not disclose the terms of the deals, but said that
Microsoft will make job offers to several hundred AT&T engineers.
The deal follows a $2 billion agreement in 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-at-t-cloud/microsoft-att-sign-cloud-deal-worth-more-than-2-billion-idUSKCN1UC1KK
in which AT&T said it would start using Microsoft's cloud for software
development and other tasks. At that time, AT&T said it would continue to
run its core networking functions in its own private data centers.
Andre Fuetsch, AT&T's chief technology officer, said
that shifting to a public cloud vendor will let AT&T take advantage of a
larger ecosystem of software developers who are working on technologies such as
wringing more use out of pricey 5G spectrum or creating new features for users.
"That's what we at AT&T want to do, and we think
working with Microsoft gives us that advantage," Fuetsch told Reuters in
an interview.
Microsoft intends to use the newly acquired technology -
plus the experience gained helping AT&T run the network - to build out a
product it calls Azure for Operators, which it will use to go after core
network business from telecommunications companies in the 60 regions of the
world where it operates.
"I think we're going to have operators around the
planet that are quite interested in that," Jason Zander, executive vice
president of Microsoft Azure, said in an interview. - Reuters
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment