IBM lands Verizon, Telefonica pacts as hybrid cloud, edge computing, 5G meld

IBM has landed hybrid cloud deals with Verizon and Telefonica as it aims to build out 5G and edge networks.

In addition, Big Blue launched IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation for enterprises looking to deploy 5G networks. IBM has also expanded its ecosystem with more than 30 new partners.

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IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, who will address Mobile World Congress 2021, outlined the developments. Mobile World Congress has an edge network, cloud, 5G spin with keynotes from Krishna, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky and Qualcomm CEO-Elect Cristiano Amon.

Verizon will use IBM and Red Hat technology to automate and orchestrate its 5G network. Verizon will deploy an open hybrid cloud platform with IBM and Red Hat building blocks.

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IBM and Verizon already collaborating on 5G enterprise use cases. With IBM services and Red Hat OpenShift, Verizon will look to develop everything from containers to open-source tools to roll out features and services for edge computing. IBM Global Services will integrate its Telco Network Cloud platform into Verizon's Service Orchestration Platform.

With Telefonica, IBM said it is developing a hybrid cloud platform using its artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. the partnership with IBM and Telefonica Tech is aimed at enterprises.

Specifically, IBM's Watson-based Virtual Assistant will run on Telefonica's Cloud Garden platform. Cloud Garden is Telefonica's container as a service platform. IBM Watson Virtual Assistant will be integrated to enhance the customer experience by using natural language processing to handle tedious tasks for human reps.

Telefonica and IBM will also create a new blockchain platform for optimize supply chains and traceability.

Also, at MWC 2021, IBM rolled out Cloud Pak for Network Automation for communications service providers to provision and scale network and cloud services faster.

IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation runs on Red Hat OpenShift and includes network lifecycle modeling, orchestration, automated service design and testing, real-time network visibility and closed loop operations. IBM added that it will integrate technology from the recent Turbonomic acquisition into IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation.

The game plan for IBM is to land more deals as hybrid cloud, AI, edge computing and 5G increasingly blend together. To that end, IBM said it has more than 30 partners in its ecosystem including Cisco, Dell Technologies, Equinix, Intel, Juniper Networks and Samsung.