Telefonica announced a new alliance with longstanding partner Cisco to tap into the growing need of large and small enterprises to support hybrid home and office working environments for employees.

The Spain-based group’s digital unit, Telefonica Tech, and the US networking giant plan to offer a new managed service to enterprise customers that includes SD-WAN, security and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architectures.

The partners explained that the new offer will form part of Telefonica’s existing flexSITE service, incorporating Cisco Meraki cloud-based wireless and Cisco Umbrella security solutions. The service will be launched in Spain initially, and then rolled out to other European and Latin American markets.

Shailaja Shankar (pictured, left), SVP and general manager of the Cisco Security Business Group, noted that the shift to hybrid work “has accelerated the need for businesses to connect and protect employees and their devices anywhere”.

Shankar added that the new managed service from Telefonica Tech aims to combine Cisco’s SD-WAN and cloud security solutions “in a way that simplifies connectivity and security for office workers and telecommuters”.

Rames Sarwat, director of cybersecurity and cloud products and services at Telefonica Tech, commented that the new alliance aims to resolve “any connectivity and security challenges” faced by enterprise customers “in the era of hybrid work”.

Shankar shook hands on the new agreement with Maria Jesus Almazor (pictured, right), CEO of the cybersecurity and cloud division of Telefonica Tech.