After years playing a key role behind the scenes as an R&D partner to system vendors and a systems integrator and professional services supplier to many of the world's major network operators, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) is set to become a vendor of AI-based network management and assurance tools, a move that could pitch it against some of its existing key customers.

To achieve that goal, the Network Solutions team within TCS's Communications, Media and Information (CMI) division is set to embark on some M&A activity to bring on board the specific artificial intelligence code it needs, senior executives tell Light Reading.

The move to become a vendor is part of a broader transformation at TCS: Get the full story about how TCS is pitching itself as a "new systems integrator" in our exclusive Prime Reading report: TCS Pivots to Products, Plans M&A.

— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading