Cisco, Verizon Team on Cloud-Based Collaboration

Cisco Systems and Verizon Enterprise Solutions have teamed up to deliver Cisco Spark, the cloud-based collaboration service, to the carrier’s customers for the first time.

Hosted in the Cisco Cloud and built on an open, extensible system, Cisco Spark provides APIs and integrations for developers to create apps, extending the value of the service. The joint offer will deliver message and meet capabilities integrated with Verizon’s business collaboration services, including unified communications and collaboration as a service, and Verizon’s contact-center services.

The joint offer will run over Verizon’s wireless and global wireline networks.{ad}

“Cisco is putting our leading providers at the center of our cloud strategy,” said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s collaboration, data analytics and IoT groups. “As we bring Cisco Spark and other SaaS solutions to market, we will team with our global service providers to jointly develop, sell and market. This unique SaaS model is not about service providers simply reselling Cisco Spark, but about joint innovation and shared business outcomes.”

The new offering will be available later this year to enterprise and government agencies around the world.

“By integrating Cisco Spark meeting and messaging capabilities into Verizon’s collaboration portfolio and global network, Verizon and Cisco will continue to help enterprise clients with digital transformation initiatives that drive better customer experiences and meaningful, measurable business outcomes,” said Bob Minai, Verizon’s executive director of advanced communications.