AT&T powers up Exide's digital transformation with its FlexWare platform

AT&T is driving battery and energy storage company Exide's digital transformation with its virtualized FlexWare platform.

FlexWare, which combines a switch chip and a server blade to provision services at the edge, is deployed across Exide's global locations including Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. By reducing hardware requirements, FlexWare streamlines operations, enabling companies to become more agile and responsive to their IT and business needs.

Using FlexWare enables businesses to launch virtual network functions (VNFs) to improve productivity and communication across sites. With FlexWare, AT&T can push the VNFs, such as firewall or security VNFs, to devices on a company's network.

In combination with FlexWare, Exide is also using managed network security services from AT&T Cybersecurity.

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Exide, which was founded 130 years ago, manufactures and recycles batteries for a broad range of industrial and transportation applications including cars, boats, forklifts and uninterrupted power units.  Excide has more than 10,000 employees located across 80 countries.

"Our technology will give Exide the support it needs to continue operating at high standards and to prepare for new opportunities in a 5G world," said John Vladimir Slamecka, AT&T region president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in a statement. "We're building a platform that is ready for new data hungry apps made possible with the arrival of 5G; such as AR and VR. That's why we are moving compute resources closer to the network edge, opening the door to new experiences and opportunities."