The news sets up the network for future opportunities and new business models, as well as allowing Zain’s network, which serves 45 million customers across the Middle East and North Africa, to meet the ever increasing demands of devices and growing connections.
“The demands of the digital era means that we must prioritize improving speed and efficiency, defining a growth strategy based on new services, and ensuring security,” said Henri Kassab, managing director of international wholesale and roaming at Zain Group. “These are the building blocks of our innovation that support our transformation in becoming an integrated digital lifestyle operator. With the support of Cisco’s leading technology, our future-ready network architecture positions us well to drive tangible business outcomes and meet the evolving demands of our customers.”
Zain Group is using Cisco’s advanced segment routing platforms and WAN automation bringing distributed intelligence and centralized control to its network. In addition, the cloud-scale and automation of the product will deliver next-generation network capabilities to the Zain Group enabling simplification, scalability and open innovation that drive business results.
The move represents a move towards network automation and a more resilient network that delivers high bandwidth, improved application intelligence for 5G and a better end user experience that defines the network of the future. As well as simplified operations, programmability, scalability and increased network availability.
Ali Amer, managing director of global service provider sales at Cisco Middle East and Africa, added: “The capabilities of Cisco’s segment routing, automation and our best of breed routing engines enable Zain Group to implement a programmable network that allows them to rapidly adapt to future customer needs. By fast tracking their network automation, Zain Group are future-proofing their network with an agile, scalable and secure architecture that supports their growth strategy and enhances their competitiveness.”
