China's cloud-computing firm, Inspur Group and Ericsson have signed an MoU that builds upon the existing joint venture to develop radio technology and products between the two companies. With this new agreement, the two companies will expand their collaboration into new business areas such as cloud infrastructure, TV and media, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
In cloud infrastructure, Inspur and Ericsson will test and verify the compatibility and performance of selected Ericsson software solutions related to areas such as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), IoT, OSS/BSS and cloud on Inspur's hardware platform, and evaluate joint proof-of-concept (PoC) opportunities.
In addition, the two companies will align standardization and participation in open forums such as ODCC and OPNFV, as well as explore possibilities for joint PoCs in areas such as 5G core networks, NFV, and management and orchestration (MANO) with operators and enterprise LTE customers.
In TV and Media, the cooperation aims to launch a total solution that enables the next generation of media cloud, and will start by integrating Ericsson's MediaFirst solution with Inspur's cloud computing. Inspur has agreed to customize its digital set-top box and other terminals to meet the requirements of Ericsson and its strategic customers.
Furthermore, both the companies will partner to design and build data centers and communication infrastructure to address China's "One Belt, One Road" markets, while in the global market, the two parties will explore strategic partnerships.
