Both deals will help the operator expand its global managed service portfolio.
BT says its new managed hybrid cloud offer will be deployed in BT’s data centres with the Rackspace Fabric management layer.
The operator claims its customers will benefit from the integration of Rackspace Technology’s cloud management expertise and automation, analytics, and AI tools with its own network and security capabilities.
The operator also said this is an evolutionary step in managed cloud services.
Bas Burger, CEO of BT’s Global unit, said, “This innovative partnership with Rackspace Technology accelerates our plans to build a world-class hybrid cloud portfolio.”
Kevin Jones, CEO of Rackspace Technology, added, “It highlights the enduring long-term value of a hybrid cloud model, as BT customers will now have access to the best of public cloud, private cloud, and traditional hosted environments alongside the speed, security, and resilience of BT’s worldwide networks.”
The companies have also committed to extend their partnership in the future to create new joint cloud offerings for their customers.
Managing VMware’s SASE
Separately BT announced that it will offer VMware’s secure access service edge (SASE) as a global managed service. The plan is to combine it with BT’s networking capabilities and security expertise.
The launch of this BT-managed service builds on the partnership between the companies – BT already offers a managed service based on VMware SD-WAN.
The new managed service will help customers accelerate their digital transformation by providing employees wherever they are with flexible, more secure, and reliable access to cloud-based applications and services deployed in public and private clouds, SaaS, or at the enterprise edge. It will support the adoption of the latest digital technologies and workstyles, including IoT and hybrid working.
As part of the single-vendor ecosystem managed service, BT will provide end-to-end support across networking and security, protecting access to applications and data across private, hybrid and multi-clouds.
The intention is to simplify things for customers that adopt a full SASE approach and to be especially compelling for those looking to upgrade networking and security operations.
VMware’s cloud-delivered SASE solution brings together: network performance benefits of SD-WAN; integrated security services delivered from the cloud; support for distributed applications; and all benefit from AI in IT operations (AIOps) for faster problem resolution.
The capabilities will be available from a global network of over 150 points of presence (PoPs) deployed by VMware and its SASE service provider partners. BT will peer its network PoPs with VMware PoPs, so customers have an enhanced end user experience on the VMware platform.