The partnership between the Arabian Internet & communications services company and Aricent, sees the two develop innovations in the areas of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) to accelerate its adoption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“The CoE is an important element of our ongoing commitment to deliver on Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 supporting the nation’s digital transformation”, said Omer Alnomany, CEO of STC Solutions.
Under the scope of the agreement, the two specifically develop carrier-grade SDN/NFV solutions, tools, and methodologies to empower STC Solutions’ clients with their technology transition. STC say that SDN/NFV is a key factor to simplify network infrastructure and support innovative use cases.
“It is another step in our strategy for an open, standards-based and vendor-neutral approach towards SDN/NFV”, added Thamir Alhammad, vice president of enterprise services at STC Solutions. “It will facilitate skills development for beginner and advanced level technical training for industry certification. This promotes an innovation and R&D culture. Connecting our knowledge of the local ICT market with Aricent’s global engineering prowess, we are able to pilot, verify and deploy new capabilities and customer experiences, without our clients needing to worry about the technology. We believe this ecosystem and collaboration model is very beneficial for embracing and growing new technologies.”
The companies will define a dynamic and evolving virtualization roadmap for the CoE based on client-centred priorities. As well as sharing best practices and tools to simplify how customers design, deploy and manage their networks.
Also commenting on the news, Dietmar Wendt, president of communications at Aricent, said: “We will focus on a new wave of innovation leveraging virtualization technologies. This will drive exciting and unprecedented capabilities and use cases in the near future. The MoU cements our partnership with STC Solutions and allows us to learn together, share knowledge and build joint experiences, pilots and deployments on this journey. This will accelerate progress in this domain and will benefit our clients, developers and the open source community.”
Earlier this month, Kuwaiti operator Viva – owned by STC - secured $133 million to upgrade its network. The five-year-deal, for 40 million Kuwaiti dinars, is with Boubyan Bank and includes a Murabaha facility, which conforms to Islamic custom.
