Cisco Delves Deeper Into Managed Services

Expanding a previous relationship, Cisco and BellSouth team to offer a slew of voice and data services in the Southeast.

Financial terms of the 4-year deal were not disclosed.

Cisco’s Internet protocol and optical gear will be used in BellSouth’s network, allowing the carrier to offer virtual private networks, Metro Ethernet and enhanced SONET services.

The companies will also jointly offer IP telephony, wireless local area networks (LAN), LAN/wide area network and local and long-distance network transport, equipment, professional services and on-site maintenance and monitoring.

At a customer level, the services allows for wireless data management and transaction processing, automatic call distribution and unified messaging and predictive dialing.

“Each of Cisco’s strategic service provider relationships, AT&T, SBC, Sprint, will be structured similarly in terms of having a focus on joint revenue opportunities in the areas of managed service delivery and core network services based on Cisco infrastructure,” Cisco spokeswoman Martina Moscone told internetnews.com

The deals with service providers will differ in their geographic areas, business models, and in the type of services offered, Moscone said.

In the BellSouth pact, the services can be tailored to small and medium business, but the companies are also targeting enterprise customers, especially those in health care, finance, education and government sectors.

For Atlanta-based BellSouth, the move is part of an upgrade plan drafted last year. Another component is a move from its SONET infrastructure to Multiservice provisioning Platorofm (define:MSPP) to improve the performance of its network.

Last month, the company also integrated Multi-Protocol Label Switching into its network core and edge. Cisco is one of two providers participating in the SONET MSPP infrastructure build out. The other is Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies .