Optical transport and routing vendor Ekinops will pair its software with Lanner's universal CPE appliances in a bid to capture a larger share of the U.S. and Mexico carrier markets.

The joint offering combines Lanner's Intel Atom-based NCA-1515/L uCPE platform with Ekinops' OneOS6-LIM operating system, which provides a platform for running virtual network functions (VNFs) including Ekinops' own SD-WAN Xpress platform.

By partnering with Lanner, Ekinops is able to provide a flexible platform capable of running multiple networking or security functions on a single appliance, said Kevin Antill, Ekinops' VP of sales for North America, in a statement.

According to Antill, the partnership also positions the vendors to help internet and managed service providers corner the small to midsized business and enterprise markets.

Ekinops is far from the first software vendor to partner with Lanner.

Earlier this year, nacXwan announced a partnership with the uCPE vendor to develop SD-WAN appliances for distributed enterprises and telecom operators. The partnership bears a striking resemblance to the Ekinops announcement, with nacXwan planning to run its SD-WAN software stack on Lanner's hardware.

Meanwhile, in June, Lanner joined Trilogy Networks' Rural Cloud Initiative to develop a distributed cloud platform in rural America. Unlike Ekinops and nacXwan, which are focused on branch connectivity, Lanner's hardware will be used for data collection, compute, and transport functions.

According to Trilogy, this will enable cost-effective data processing and analytics for 5G workloads.

Additionally, late last year Lanner also penned deals with GTT and Verizon.