AT&T inked a deal with Dutch industrial firm ERIKS Group to manage the company’s global network, which includes converting ERIKS’ U.S. transport network and its 250 sites in Europe and Asia to an AT&T managed network.
While ERIKS may not be a household name, the Dutch company is a global distributor of industrial products, including conveyor belts, hydraulic and metal hoses, joints, nozzles and gaskets. The industrial services firm, which made a series of acquisitions in 2011 and 2012, is currently in the midst of streamlining its IT infrastructure and the contract with AT&T is part of that transformation.
Specifically, the deal calls for AT&T to consolidate ERIKS global network, including providing network management to 350 ERIKS business locations in Europe, North America and Asia. Those locations include ERIKS headquarters, branch offices, home offices, data centers and the cloud. AT&T also will create one secure global IT infrastructure and provide 24-7 managed network connectivity to ERIKS’ users, including customers and suppliers.
Related: Verizon will manage Bayer’s global IT network across 91 countries
AT&T declined to provide further details on whether the deal includes software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) capability.
ERIKS CFO Annemieke den Otter said in a statement that ERIKS decided to work with AT&T because of its track record in working with businesses with a global footprint. “They understood the importance of reliability and security for our operations and worked with us to design a solution which will support ERIKS, now and the in future.”