Cisco and NTT are partnering to develop and deploy joint IoT as-a-Service solutions for enterprise customers. The new solutions will build on NTT’s Edge as a Service portfolio and Cisco’s IoT capabilities. The new solutions will provide real-time data insights, enhanced security, improved decision-making, and reduced operational costs through predictive maintenance, asset tracking, and supply chain management capabilities.

The companies will deliver solutions that combine NTT’s Managed Services expertise, automation capabilities at the edge, and the management of complex IT environments, with Cisco’s IoT capabilities, including Low Power Wide Area Networking (LoRaWAN).

As part of the new partnership with Cisco, London-based NTT has bolstered its IoT consulting and services business that brings together more than 1000 practitioners and 100 use cases in areas such as connected cars, fleet management, predictive maintenance, smart cities, digital twins, connected factories, and utilities. NTT has already trained more than 500 Cisco sales experts to accelerate the companies’ combined capabilities and go-to-market efforts.

NTT and Cisco are focusing on industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare, where there is a growing demand for edge computing and IoT solutions. The two companies are already deploying a ‘ruggedised’ service to several customers including Compagnie Intercommunale Liégeoise des Eaux (CILE), a public water distribution company located in Belgium.

NTT and Cisco have deployed thousands of LoRaWAN sensors across CILE’s infrastructure to provide remote visibility that improves operational efficiencies related to water quality, consumption, distribution, and maintenance. The solution also includes technologies such as smart distribution networks, remote reading through smart meters, smart grid for remote management, connected IoT objects, and AI, delivered as a managed service. The network also provides the building blocks to support other sustainability use cases such as waste management, parking management, water quality and street light controls.

“At CILE, we provide critical infrastructure for 24 cities in Belgium, which means efficiency, security and reliability are key,” said William de Angelis, CIO and CDO at CILE. “With NTT and Cisco’s support, we have real-time insights into our facilities and distribution networks, including faster detection of leaks, allowing us to respond to issues instantaneously and expand the network to other sustainability use cases.”

In a move to prioritise and scale IoT for clients and partners, NTT has activated an IOT-dedicated business unit with a global footprint. The team of 1,000 consultants, engineers, enterprise architects, and sustainability experts will build, deploy, and manage more than 100 use cases in areas such as connected cars, fleet management, predictive maintenance, smart cities, digital twins, connected factories and more.

“We are accelerating our IoT business initiatives to deliver a powerful portfolio of repeatable services that can be tailored to meet customer demand for these kinds of solutions. We’re in a unique position,” said Devin Yaung, SVP of Group Enterprise IoT Products and Services at NTT.

“We are excited to work together to help transition our customers to this IoT-as-a-Service model so they can quickly realise the business benefits across industries and around the globe,” said Samuel Pasquier, VP of Product Management, Industrial IoT Networking, Cisco.

“We’re doubling down on NTT’s IoT capabilities to meet customer demand,” said Yaung. “What we’re doing is pulling together our collective knowledge and skillsets, and putting the full power of NTT behind it, to better service our customers and the increasing need to outfit or retrofit their organisations with the connectivity and visibility they need to improve day-to-day business operations.”