LONDON -- Colt Technology Services, a provider of high bandwidth connectivity solutions, is working with Cisco to add greater flexibility to its Colt IQ Network for mobile service providers (MSPs) ahead of the advent of 5G. With the ability to deliver 5G backhaul, Colt will help MSPs around the world to support new 5G services at exceptional scale, data rates, and low latencies, offering more flexible and cost-effective solutions. To differentiate its 5G backhaul offering and accelerate the delivery time to its customers, Colt will deploy Cisco’s segment routing and Ethernet VPN (eVPN) based architecture.

Deployment of 5G currently requires significant capital and operational expenditure by MSPs due to its bandwidth demands and required fibre investments. By allowing MSPs to share connectivity costs while maintaining individual service level agreements (SLAs) for their applications, Colt’s deployment with Cisco will help its customers deliver 5G services to end-users faster and with lower subscription costs.

“We are focused on providing best-in-class, high bandwidth, on-demand connectivity solutions to meet our customers’ ever-growing business needs and the arrival of 5G presents exciting opportunities,” said Peter Coppens, Vice President, Product Portfolio at Colt. “We have worked closely with Cisco to design a network architecture that is simple to operate, highly available, and capable of delivering the innovative network services that are required for 5G.”

Combined with Cisco’s leading-edge, programmable-routing architecture for advanced 5G service enablement, the openness and programmability of the Colt IQ Network can be extended to customers directly using standards-based APIs. This is a breakthrough in automation for next-generation 5G backhaul requirements, enabling self-provisioned bandwidth scaling and guaranteed SLA services or network slices based on latency and bandwidth demands.

“With every new mobile technology comes complexity, and 5G is no different. We are proud to support Colt as a strategic partner in its mission to simplify 5G deployments,” said Sumeet Arora, SVP and GM Service Provider Routing Cisco. “Cisco’s highly programmable segment routing architecture will enable Colt to lower the barriers of entry for MSPs, reducing costs and significantly speeding up the delivery of 5G services.”

The Colt IQ Network is a high bandwidth, agile, flexible backbone, which provides low latency connectivity and is present in all major hubs around the globe as well as in the major hyperscale data centres. This coupled with Colt’s On Demand proposition, which allows organisations to scale their bandwidth requirements up and down in near-real time, positions the Colt IQ Network as a next-generation architecture to support the arrival of 5G.

The partnership with Cisco will also enable Colt to support newer 5G deployment architectures using Cloud Radio Access Network (CloudRAN). CloudRAN lowers operational costs through more efficient use of spectrum and radio resources and cost-optimised antennas that require fewer site visits.

Colt is present in over 850 data centres globally. This extensive footprint naturally complements the requirements for deep-fibre-based networks for 5G services, including remote edge compute demands.

Colt Technology Services Group Ltd
Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)