Telefónica will head up a massive IT modernization effort for Netherlands-based synthetic elastomer company Arlanxeo. The five-year contract will span more than 20 production sites in 11 countries across four continents.

Under the contract, the Telefónica will be responsible for the deployment of several core communications and IT infrastructure technologies. This includes the deployment of a redundant SD-WAN network designed to service Arlanxeo's many business and production sites.

Security is another key component of Telefónica's planned upgrades. The service provider's managed security offerings reportedly boasts cloud-based web gateways, network access controls, and secure DDI, which integrates domain name system (DNS), dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), and IP address management (IPAM). All of these security features are managed from Telefónica's security information and event management (SEIM) platform. Other marquee features include IP telephony, LAN, WiFi, and IP-telemetry.

According to Telefónica, these technologies are "critical pillars" to any enterprise's success and as such the service provider's approach has been tailored to meet Arlanxeo's specific needs.

“We are very proud and privileged to have been selected by Arlanxeo," remarked Juan Vicente Martin, director of multinational customers at Telefónica, in a statement. "This agreement reflects our commitment to supporting our customers in their business transformation and ensuring we deliver world-class network as a service solutions, built around the new digital core.”

Telefónica's deal with Arlanxeo comes after a busy year for the Spanish service provider, especially where SD-WAN is concerned.

Last month the company announced a partnership with fledgling open source SD-WAN vendor flexiWAN to drive the development of new SD-WAN services designed to run on white-box consumer premises equipment (uCPE). flexiWAN's SD-WAN platform entered general availability in early January.

And in June 2019, the service provider penned a deal to resell Fortinet's line of "Forti"-branded SD-WAN and next-generation firewall products, which the company plans to offer through a virtual network function (VNF) market place under development.

These moves line up with an ongoing effort by the service provider to keep up with its customer's rapidly evolving needs.

Telefónica, like most operators, is facing a new era of rampant technological change and disruption that is forcing the company to make daring decisions about its path forward, said José María Álvarez-Pallete, chairman and CEO of Telefónica, during a press conference in late November.

To capitalize on this change, Telefónica formed a new business unit focused on cybersecurity, cloud computing, and IoT. It also formed a new holding company for its network infrastructure called Telefónica Infra that will focus on greenfield fiber projects, submarine cable, data center, edge computing, distributed antenna systems (DAS), and building out its radio access network (RAN).