Cisco is tapping NTT to help power its Private 5G targeting automotive, logistics, health care, retail, and public sector verticals. The deal comes as analyst firms continue to tout heady forecasts for the market despite current headwinds.

NTT will provide Cisco with network infrastructure design, deployment, run operations, use case development, device sourcing, compatibility, and end-to-end testing. This includes Cisco tying its Private 5G service into NTT’s Managed Private 5G offering, which will allow Cisco customers to add edge connectivity options to their current LAN, WAN, and cloud infrastructure.

Cisco launched its Private 5G platform at the MWC Barcelona event in 2022. It’s an as-a-service platform that can integrate with existing enterprise systems and Wi-Fi, is billed on a pay-per-use basis, and supports open radio access network (RAN) principles. It also supports multi-tenancy capabilities that in this instance means multiple local 5G service providers can share core network assets.

“The technology, in combination and integrated with the rest of the technology stack, can really solve significant customer problems,” Michael Beesley, CTO for service provider networking at Cisco, recently told SDxCentral in an interview. “So we’re bullish on the space and we continue to invest or even accelerate our investments.”

Beesley also backed Cisco’s decision to provide the platform as a managed offering, which was touted as lowering the complexity barrier for enterprises.

“Today, we’re adamant that was a correct call and we’re very happy about that,” Beesley said.

He explained that Cisco’s model is designed to take into account the need of a managed services or systems integration partner to help the customer deploy and manage a private network.

“It will be hard to cite one example of an enterprise that felt that they could do the DIY model lock, stock, and barrel,” Beesley said. “We’re very happy about that both toward our managed service provider partners and the end customer. It just hides an awful lot of complexity and simplifies and reduces that cost that gets them to a pay-as-you-grow kind of model.”

NTT itself has been aggressive in the private 5G space.

The vendor initially launched its Private 5G Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) in mid-2021. Last year it scored a deal to plug the platform into VMware’s Edge Compute Stack that will allow NTT to power an edge-as-a-service product.

NTT last year also expanded a deal with the city of Las Vegas to deploy and provision a far-reaching private network that can support local businesses, government, educational facilities. The work will see NTT increase the number of network access points already deployed across the city and the network to third-party access points and end-user devices.

The Cisco deal with NTT comes as analysts continue to forecast explosive growth for the private 5G space despite initial market headwinds.

ABI Research predicts the market for private cellular services will grow from $7 billion in 2023, to more than $96 billion in 2030. The firm added that integration services will account for nearly half of that total.

“This underlines that a private cellular network for enterprises is a highly customized deployment that requires a high degree of expertise in integration and orchestration capabilities,” Leo Gergs, senior analyst for private networks and enterprise connectivity at ABI Research, noted in the report. “Consequentially, system integrator capabilities will remain pivotally important for the success of private cellular deployments.”

Gergs specifically cited a recent agreement between IBM, Casa Systems, and Enea that will allow for the integration of subscriber data management, security, interoperability, and multi-access 5G to support low latency use cases in private 5G environments.

The ABI Research report also stated that the current macroeconomic environment is impacting uptake, and that “the telco industry must understand that enterprises are primarily motivated by economic concerns when deciding on a private cellular network deployment.”

“Importantly, this needs to go much further than removing high upfront investment and moving to a service-based offering,” Gergs wrote. “Particularly in economic uncertainties, enterprises demand reliable partners that provide binding answers as to what exact capabilities they aim to monetize and how.”