Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese equipment vendor Huawei covering areas such as public Cloud, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) technologies. The two companies have collaborated in support of the UAE’s Smart City initiative, and have previously worked together on upgrades of Etisalat’s fibre-optic networks and the deployment of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology I nthe Middle East country. Saeed Al Zarouni, Senior Vice President for Business Planning and Technology Evolution at Etisalat, commented: ‘By teaming up with Huawei, we are looking to explore possibilities of deploying advanced technologies that provide advanced value added services and ultimately improve our customer’s overall experience.’
Separately, rival UAE operator Du has formed a partnership with PCCW Global to develop ‘smart home’ services. The companies say the relationship will focus on five main areas: home networking, including Wi-Fi and cloud services; home automation and control, including home appliance connectivity; home entertainment, including video and TV services; surveillance and monitoring, including home security, intercom, home monitoring and cameras; and Do It Yourself Retail, including value added services, devices, gadgets and consoles.