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BAE Systems has announced the five-year partnership with Vodafone Group.
The partnership will provide businesses with a range of advanced communications security products and services, initially focused on smartphones and tablets.
The formation of the partnership is part of its continued commitment to grow cyber and security business, BAE Systems Detica, in areas such as the communications technology market. For Vodafone, the partnership extends the company's commitment to provide its global enterprise customers with the most advanced and robust security products and services available.
The first commercial element of the strategic partnership will be a new cloud-based mobile security solution, Vodafone mobile threat manager, to be brought to market in spring 2013 and initially available to Vodafone's largest 1,500 global enterprise customers. Vodafone mobile threat manager works across all networks, scanning traffic to and from a company's mobile devices in order to safeguard against malicious attacks and block inappropriate content, without impacting on device performance.
"Under the terms of the partnership, we will also confirm our intention to select Vodafone as our preferred global supplier of mobile communications, excluding the US," according to the company statement.
Once appointed, Vodafone will provide services to our 35,000 UK employees from July 2013, with a view to expanding these services across our global workforce over the term of the contract. Vodafone is additionally discussing the supply of unified communications to BAE Systems in the UK. The partnership also provides a framework for both companies to explore a broader range of joint security products for other business areas including interconnected devices using machine to machine (M2M) technology.
"Mobile is transforming enterprise; businesses big and small now rely on mobile services to an extent unimaginable five years ago. Our partnership with BAE Systems will strengthen further our commitment to meet our customers' increasingly complex cyber security needs. We also look forward to working with BAE Systems as the company's communications partner," said Vittorio Colao, CEO,Vodafone Group.
"This partnership is unique, not only in bringing together a defence and security player with a major communications provider, but also in its ability to help global enterprises realise their ambitions around leveraging the future of communications technologies in a secure manner. These technologies are subject to the vulnerabilities of cyber space and we can provide the mobile marketplace with protection against today's threats and the advanced threats of the future," said Ian King, CEO, BAE Systems.