Managed Service Provider Week in Review

It was a busy week in the managed service provider (MSP) and cloud services realm, with some major contracts and partnerships announced. Ericsson finalized two major managed services contracts, expanding their reach into Russia and India.

The company signed an approximately $1 billion managed services contract with Reliance Communications, an Indian telecom provider. The eight-year deal has Ericsson managing the wireless and wireline networks for the provider, including providing maintenance, day-to-day network operations and operational planning of Reliance's 2G, CDMA and 3G networks. It covers more than 62,000 miles of fiber and mobile infrastructure across 11 telecom circles.

Ericsson also announced its first major managed services contract in Russia with VimpelCom, a mobile phone service provider. Through the five-year agreement, the company will manage network operations at more than 10,000 sites for the Dutch service provider.

A new report from MarketsandMarkets shows just how much growth the cloud market is experiencing, with the global personal cloud market forecast to grow from $6.6 billion this year to $43.5 billion by 2018. That represents a CAGR of 45.61 percent over five years, with individual users set to comprise the largest market for personal cloud services. SMB users are also a growing segment, according to the report.

A major cloud storage enablement agreement was announced by France Telecom-Orange, which chose CTERA Networks to power its new storage service offering. The solution will reach more than one million customers in France. CTERA has developed the "Stockage Local" solution specifically for Orange customers, enabling them to share, store and back up files securely through a cloud-enabled appliance. The appliance is managed through Orange's Le Cloud Pro portal and installed locally on customer premises.

Xerox also rolled out its ConnectKey software system this week, addressing the growing BYOD trend as well as the prevalence of the mobile workforce. The ConnectKey solution is embedded in Xerox multifunction printers (MFP) and provides advanced IT security across connected devices using McAfee. An open API lets MSPs and partners develop and embed apps on MFPs without any additional software requirements.