A new Verizon SAP deal calls for the carrier to build a next-generation global network for enterprise software provider SAP. Verizon says the new network will be easier and less expensive to manage.
“SAP has an extremely clear vision for its customers around the globe,” Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ President George Fischer said in a press release. “This was a great opportunity for us to use Verizon’s innovative network solutions to build a future-ready infrastructure that can support SAP’s exponential growth. When a company is growing as quickly as SAP, the network is foundational. And the network is at the heart of what we do.”
Verizon SAP Deal
The Verizon SAP deal represents a change of direction for SAP. In the past, the company has maintained its global IT real estate holdings and used a number of vendors to provide services. Verizon was one of these companies. The new approach, driven by SAP’s increasing reliance on the cloud, is to have an outsider create the network. It will employ software-defined networking and other technologies to provide SAP with resilience and scalability.
Verizon will consolidate management of SAP’s global network. This will allow SAP employees who normally managed the network to now work on customer-facing activities, according to SAP. Verizon is working with SAP on two major projects, a press release outlines: A network linking global offices and one linking data centers. The latter is the one that supports SAP’s cloud endeavors.
“Secure, resilient global connectivity is crucial for our future business success and critical to running our business,” said Thomas Saueressig, Chief Information Officer and EVP of Global Cloud Infrastructure, SAP said in a prepared statement. “As we move more of our business to the cloud, our customers’ success depends on our ability to connect them to our applications, and to help ensure those applications deliver the highest standards of performance and security.”
