Tag: Telecommunications

What you need to know:

• Verizon is one of the first operators to combine forces with Microsoft to enable wireless subscribers to use their mobile phone number to make and receive calls using Microsoft Teams.

• With Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams, enterprise customers will experience the full power of Teams using the mobile device’s native dialer.

• Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams complements Verizon VoIP for Operator Connect, a fixed line solution built on Verizon’s Global SIP network and powered by Microsoft’s Azure for Operators’ Managed Service for Teams Calling.

NEW YORK – Verizon Business today announced Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams, a new service that will integrate a customer’s Verizon Wireless business number with Microsoft Teams and bring enterprise-grade voice quality and policy management to Teams calls to and from mobile devices. Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams gives users the option of placing outbound calls through the Microsoft Teams desktop application, an integrated IP Phone, or directly through the native dialer on their mobile device.

“We continue to see global demand for unified calling platforms to keep distributed workforces connected,” said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, Chief Revenue Officer, Verizon Business. “Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams answers that customer demand and will make an immediate impact on the collaboration industry. Verizon is helping large enterprise customers adapt and succeed in today’s hybrid work environment by delivering a best-in-class suite of professional services spanning voice, security, and Network as a Service solutions to power the mobile workforce.”

By elevating a user’s mobile identity to become a unified calling and collaboration endpoint, Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams empowers customers to easily and quickly apply enterprise policies to mobile numbers, reducing the costs associated with managing mobile and desktop phones and offering a path to consolidating all activity on mobile handsets where appropriate. 

Key advantages:

Mobile Manageability: Provides users with a single mobile phone number for business, which can be easily managed by IT administration with enterprise-grade calling policies in Teams

Unified Call Control: Converge voicemail, call history, and presence information across endpoints, and direct call queues to mobile numbers

Network Flexibility: Seamlessly move calls between networks and endpoints, including uplifting calls from the cellular voice network to VoIP data calls with video and screensharing

Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams complements the existing Verizon VoIP for Operator Connect solution for fixed line voice services. The popularity of Teams, combined with the scale and reliability of Verizon’s global network, will provide enterprise customers with a secure, managed multi-device solution that blends connectivity, calling, and administration under one easy-to-use customer interface and calling plan.

“This collaboration with Verizon allows us to combine the power of cloud, cellular and edge to deliver tightly integrated mobile calling and business collaboration workflows that are reliable, secure, device & network agnostic all while being cost-efficient and simple for the customers to manage a single calling offering,” said Martin Lund, CVP of Azure for Operators. “The solution leverages the power of Azure to accelerate the migration of critical workflows to the cloud and benefits from Microsoft’s expertise in providing managed services that enable operators to quickly certify with the Teams Operator Connect program.”

As a certified gold Microsoft partner with more than 15 years of experience delivering VoIP services and 7,000+ business customers with 18M telephone numbers active on Verizon’s VoIP platform, Verizon is uniquely positioned to support organizations of all sizes as they seek to unlock the full potential of Microsoft Teams. 

Verizon VoIP for Operator Connect is available today while Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams will be available later in 2022. For more information, visit Microsoft Teams for Collaboration and Communication.

• Rogers chose Microsoft to modernize applications and services and will leverage Microsoft’s capabilities to enhance customers’ digital experiences 
• Rogers is now Canada’s largest operator partner of Microsoft Teams solutions and is the first in Canada to offer Operator Connect Mobile, a new all-in-one communications and collaboration solution built on Microsoft Teams 
• The two companies will combine Rogers most reliable 5G network with Azure unlocking 5G multi-access edge computing and driving innovation  

TORONTO, Ontario (March 16, 2022) – Today, Rogers and Microsoft announced a five-year strategic alliance to help enterprise and small and medium business customers accelerate digitization and take full advantage of hybrid work and 5G-enabled solutions. Rogers has selected Microsoft Azure as its strategic cloud for infrastructure and technology workloads and will leverage Azure’s public cloud capabilities to power innovation, unlock new customer experiences and enable employees to collaborate with more agility across the organization. 

Rogers is the first in Canada, and one of the first companies globally, to offer Operator Connect Mobile. This industry-first, all-in-one communications and collaboration solution will enable organizations to upgrade legacy infrastructure, significantly reduce costs on redundant wireline voice services, and enhance customer and employee experiences via a unified and enterprise compliant Teams experience. This alliance builds on the two company’s long-standing relationship which has led Rogers to be one of Canada’s largest resellers of Microsoft 365 and Teams solutions. 

“Landlines and legacy voice services are rapidly being replaced by mobile – the workplace is shifting, and our customers have embraced new ways of working,” said Ron McKenzie, President of Rogers Business. “Together, we are bringing Operator Connect Mobile to Canada, which will help businesses save up to 50% in costs by upgrading outdated, expensive legacy voice infrastructure and shifting to a best-in-class digital calling experience. We’re proud to power the latest digital connectivity advances for Canadians and look forward to playing a pivotal role in helping businesses thrive in the new world of work.”

Operator Connect Mobile, powered by Rogers for Business, will offer customers a fully integrated voice calling experience, improving availability and responsiveness, and allowing people and businesses to work securely from anywhere across the devices of their choice. With Operator Connect Mobile, customers will have the flexibility to make and receive calls on Teams using the Rogers network, giving users the ability of placing outbound calls through the collaboration enhanced Microsoft Teams application, integrated IP Phones, or directly through the native dialer on a customer’s SIM enabled mobile device. Organizations will also benefit from a unified communications experience through a single app, streamlined technical support as well as direct peering to Rogers Network for enhanced network resilience.  

“Canada’s success in the 21st century economy requires widespread adoption of digital technologies. Canadian businesses of all sizes are re-envisioning how they can use technology, including Microsoft Teams, powered by Azure to deliver a more seamless experience across their mobile device and PC” said Kevin Peesker, President, Microsoft Canada. “As the first company to announce Operator Connect Mobile in Canada, and by bringing Rogers’ most reliable 5G network together with Microsoft Azure’s cutting-edge cloud services, we are laying the foundation to empower Canadian businesses to compete globally.” 

Microsoft’s focus on placing cutting-edge security at the heart of business will be combined with Rogers’ own expertise and extensive threat intelligence, providing customers a trusted and reliable voice calling platform. Through this alliance, Rogers will build on its extensive capabilities as the largest SIP provider in Canada to provide solutions for business and will become Canada’s largest operator partner of Microsoft Teams solutions. 

The delivery of secure and powerful services and applications requires a modern technology infrastructure. Microsoft and Rogers will work together to optimize networks, enabling highly reliable, cost-effective, and secure services, providing seamless experiences for customers across Microsoft’s cloud and Rogers’ network. The two companies will continue to partner, invest and collaborate on delivering Rogers digital transformation journey, building on a longstanding relationship of mutual cooperation over decades. Rogers will leverage Azure’s enhanced data and AI capabilities across its business to enable use cases and operational improvements through Microsoft’s new Data Centre of Excellence in Toronto. 

“Our alliance with Microsoft further enhances both our 5G network leadership and our customer’s experience,” said Jorge Fernandes, Chief Technology & Information Officer, Rogers. “Together, we’ll provide the next-generation service innovations for business customers that will support Canada’s growth and prosperity in the years ahead. With this first in Canada alliance, Rogers and Microsoft are opening all-new opportunities in 5G MEC and introducing the next chapter of global hybrid work just as Canada recovers from COVID-19 and looks forward to the economic, social and sustainability advantages of 5G.” 

The two technology companies will also explore collaboration on R&D opportunities to support the Internet of Things and Mobile Edge Computing to advance 5G innovation and Canada’s digital economy. Early access to Microsoft’s cloud, AI and edge technology will provide Rogers with the flexibility it needs to rapidly innovate and launch new services and customer experiences enabled by 5G.
 

About Rogers
Rogers is a leading Canadian technology and media company that provides world-class communications services and entertainment to consumers and businesses on our award-winning networks. Our founder, Ted Rogers, purchased his first radio station, CHFI, in 1960. Today, we are dedicated to providing industry-leading wireless, cable, sports, and media to millions of customers across Canada. Our shares are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI). For more information, please visit: rogers.com or investors.rogers.com. 

About Microsoft Canada
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Inc. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq “MSFT”) the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca.  

The increasing demand for always-on connectivity, immersive experiences, secure collaboration, and remote human relationships is pushing networks to their limits, while the market is driving down price. The network infrastructure must ensure operators are able to optimize costs and gain efficiencies, while enabling the development of personalized and differentiated services. To address the requirements of rolling out 5G, operators will face strong challenges, including high capital expenditure (CapEx) investments, an increased need for scale, automation, and secure management of the massive volume of data it will generate.

Today starts a new chapter in our close collaboration with the telecommunications industry to unlock the power of 5G and bring cloud and edge closer than ever. We’re building a carrier-grade cloud and bringing more Microsoft technology to the operator’s edge. This, in combination with our developer ecosystem, will help operators to future proof their networks, drive down costs, and create new services and business models.

In Microsoft, operators get a trusted partner who will empower them to unlock the potential of 5G. Enabling them to offer a range of new services such as ultra-reliable low-latency connectivity, mixed reality communications services, network slicing, and highly scalable IoT applications to transform entire industries and communities.

By harnessing the power of Microsoft Azure, on their edge, or in the cloud, operators can transition to a more flexible and scalable model, drive down infrastructure cost, use AI and machine learning (ML) to automate operations and create service differentiation. Furthermore, a hybrid and hyper-scale infrastructure will provide operators with the agility they need to rapidly innovate and experiment with new 5G services on a programmable network.

More specifically, we will further support operators as they evolve their infrastructure and operations using technologies such as software-defined networking, network function virtualization, and service-based architectures. We are bringing to market a carrier-grade platform for edge and cloud to support the operator’s goals to future proof their infrastructure with disaggregated, and containerized network architectures. Recognizing that not everything will move to the public cloud, we will meet operators where they are—whether at the enterprise edge, the network edge, or in the cloud.

Our approach is built on the acquisitions of industry leaders in cloud-native network functions—Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch and on the development of Azure Edge Zones. By bringing together hundreds of engineers with deep experience in the telecommunications space, we are ensuring that our product development process is catering to the most relevant networking needs of the operators. We will leverage the strengths of Microsoft to extend and enhance the current capabilities of industry-leading products such as Affirmed’s 5G core and Metaswitch’s UC portfolio. These capabilities, combined with Microsoft’s broad developer ecosystem and deep business to business partnership programs, provide Microsoft with a unique ability to support the operators as they seek to monetize the capabilities of their networks.

Your customer, your service, powered by our technology

As we build out our partnerships with different operators, it is clear to us that there will be different approaches to technology adoption based on business needs. Some operators may choose to adopt the Azure platform and select a varied mix of virtualized or containerized network function providers. We also have operators that have requested complete end-to-end services as components for their offers. As a part of these discussions, many operators have identified points of control that are important to them, for example:

• Control over where a slice, network API, or function is presented to the customer.
• Definition of where and how traffic enters and exits their network.
• Visibility and control over where key functions are executed for a given customer scenario.
• Configuration and performance parameters of core network functions.

As we build out Azure for Operators, we recognize the importance of ensuring operators have the control and visibility they require to manage their unique industry requirements. To that end, here is how our assets come together to provide operators with the platform they need.

Interconnect

It starts with the ability to interconnect deeply with the operator’s network around the globe. We have one of the largest networks that connect with operators at more than 170 points of presence and over 20,000 peering connections around the globe, putting direct connectivity within 25 miles of 85 percent of the world’s GDP. More than 200 operators have already chosen to integrate with the Azure network through our ExpressRoute service, enabling enterprises and partners to link their corporate networks privately and securely to Azure services. We also provide additional routes to connect to the service through options as varied as satellite connectivity and TV White Space spectrum.

Edge platform

This reach helps us to supply operators with cloud computing options that meet the customer wherever those capabilities are needed: at the enterprise edge, the network edge, the network core, or in the cloud. The various form factors, optimized to support the location in which they are deployed, are supported by the Azure platform—providing virtual machine and container services with a common management framework, DevOps support, and security control.

Network functions

We believe in an open platform that leverages the strengths of our partners. Our solutions are a combination of virtualized and containerized services as composable functions, developed by us and by our Network Equipment Provider partners, to support operators’ services such as the Radio Access Network, Mobile Packet Core, Voice and Interconnect services, and other network functions.

Technology from Affirmed and Metaswitch Networks will provide services for Mobile Packet Core, Voice, and Interconnect services.

Cloud solutions and Azure IoT for operators

By exposing these services through the Azure platform, we can combine them with other Azure capabilities such as Azure Cognitive Services (used by more than 1 million developers processing more than 10 billion transaction per day), Azure Machine Learning, and Azure IoT, to bring the power of AI and automation to the delivery of network services. These capabilities, in concert with our partnerships with OSS and BSS providers, enables us to help operators streamline and simplify operations, create new services to monetize the network, and gain greater insights into customer behavior.

In IoT our primary focus is simplifying our solutions to accelerate what we can do together from the edge to the cloud. We’ve done so by creating a platform that provides simple and secure provisioning of applications and devices to Azure cloud solutions through Azure IoT Central, which is the fastest and easiest way to build IoT solutions at scale. IoT Central enables customers to provision an IoT app in seconds, customize it in hours, and go to production the same day. IoT Plug and Play dramatically simplifies all aspects of IoT device support and provides devices that “just work” with any solution and is the perfect complement to achieve speed and simplicity through IoT Central. Azure IoT Central also gives the Mobile Operator the opportunity to monetize more of the IoT solution and puts them in a position to be a re-seller of the IoT Central application platform through their own solutions. Learn more about using Azure IoT for operators here.

Cellular connectivity is increasingly important for IoT solutions and represents a vast and generational shift for mobile operators as the share of devices in market shifts towards the enterprise. We will continue our deep partnership with operators to enable fast and efficient app development and deployment, which is critical to success at the edge. This will help support scenarios such as asset tracking across industries, manufacturing and distribution of smart products, and responsive supply chains. It will also help support scenarios where things are geographically dispersed, such as smart city automation, utility monitoring, and precision agriculture.

Where we go next

Our early engagement with partners such as Telstra and Etisalat helped us shape this path. We joined the 5G Open Innovation Lab as the founding public cloud partner to accelerate enterprise startups and launch new innovations to foster new 5G use cases with even greater access to leading-edge networks. The Lab will create long-term, sustainable developer and commercial ecosystems that will accelerate the delivery of exciting new capabilities at the edge, including pervasive IoT intelligence and immersive mixed reality. And this is just the beginning. I invite you to learn more about our solutions and watch the series of videos we have curated for you.