Ericsson has signed a MoU with Chinese data center equipment manufacturer, Inspur Group, to collaborate on cloud infrastructure, TV and media and IoT.
The MoU builds upon the existing cooperation between the two parties, which dates back to 2002, when Ericsson and Inspur established a joint venture to develop radio technology and products.
In cloud infrastructure, Ericsson and Inspur will test and verify the compatibility and/or performance of selected Ericsson software solutions for network functions virtualization (NFV), IoT, OSS/BSS and cloud on Inspur's hardware platform, and evaluate joint proof-of-concept (PoC) opportunities.
The two companies will align standardization and participation in open forums such as the Open Data Center Committee (ODCC) and Open NFV (OPNFV), and explore possibilities for joint PoCs in areas such as 5G core networks, NFV and management and orchestration with operators and enterprise customers.
In TV and media, the cooperation aims to launch a solution that enables the next generation of media cloud. It will start by integrating Ericsson's MediaFirst cloud TV platform with Inspur's cloud portfolio. Inspur has agreed to customize its set-top box and other terminals to meet the requirements of Ericsson and its strategic customers.
The MoU will also cover joint development of IoT solutions for various vertical industries. In addition, the two companies will collaborate on smart city projects, including smart parking, green energy, smart transportation, smart community, smart home, smart building and e-government solutions.
The two will also partner to design and build data centers and communication infrastructure to address China's 'One Belt, One Road' markets, and will explore strategic partnerships for global market opportunities.
Inspur claims to be a leading provider of cloud computing and big data services 'capable of providing total solutions at IaaS, PaaS and SaaS levels.' It says sales volume of Inspur servers rank fifth in the world and first in China. 'Inspur K1, the first key application host independently researched and developed by China, makes China the third country with core technologies of high-end servers after the United States and Japan. The media cloud including television operation support system and digital set-top box is widely applied to China's broadcast and television industry, and is available in Southeast Asia and North America and other places.'