Swedish mobile telecoms giant Ericsson is entering the data center market with a promise to build and optimise facilities for cloud service delivery.

The Swedish company said the plan was part of its network-enabled cloud concept

Ericsson said it will demonstrate a new concept for planning, designing and implementing data centers and showcase a complete cloud computing platform, including cloud management and security.

The Data Center Build and Data Center Optimization offering will target mobile cloud service demand.
With this offering, Ericsson enters the market for data centers and strengthens its position as an ICT player, the company said in a statement.

Paolo Colella, Head of Consulting and Systems Integration at Ericsson, says: "Operators are ideally positioned to offer high quality, high security and high availability cloud services to enterprises. We bring telecom-grade thinking to the cloud space, focusing both on availability and security of the services, as well as cost and efficiency gains for enterprise customers. And, in addition, cloud services bring new business opportunities for the telecom operators.

"Building a cloud solution will include a number of technological approaches. Within Ericsson's services organization, we will contribute with our key competence, looking at all of the aspects of the network architecture and how to build, optimize and operate the cloud."

Ericsson's cloud approach - from a Consulting and Systems Integration perspective - ranges from building new data centers to providing solutions for operators through a consolidation, modernization and standardization of existing IT environments.

The company emphasised the reduced need for software licenses, floor space, cooling and access to the enterprise IT environment via fixed and mobile internet as efficiency gains it can deliver.

Colella said: "Ericsson's global scale and skill, coupled with our experience in delivering more than 1,300 systems integration projects every year and expertise in mobile and fixed connectivity, means we can provide operators with new levels of flexibility and efficiency in their IT systems." In 2010 Ericsson signed a three year contract with Telecom Italia which included data center consolidation.
Economically, Sweden is building interest in the data center space and has some high profile data center projects.