Telefonica Boosts Cybersecurity Business With Nozomi Tie-Up

Telefonica, S.A. TEF recently announced that it has joined forces with Nozomi Networks with significant investment in a bid to reinforce cybersecurity solutions across industrial environments. Markedly, the investment was made through Telefonica’s corporate venture capital arm — Telefonica Innovation Ventures. With the investment, Telefonica will be able to strengthen its security services and enhance operational reliability by providing best-in-class protection to critical assets amid evolving cyber threats. However, financial terms of the deal have been kept under wraps.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Nozomi Networks is a leading provider of security services that specializes in IoT cybersecurity and operational technology. Supporting more than 3.6 million IoT and IT devices, the company conducts its business operations in 16 countries. With an ecosystem of more than 450 global partners, Nozomi Networks accelerates digital transformation with a plethora of avant-garde security products that tackle cyber risks through threat detection, network visibility and operational insight. Its security solutions are deployed in diverse environments for rapid network visualization and are implemented across various industries including energy, manufacturing, automotive and logistics. Notably, some of its global partners are — Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO, ServiceNow, Inc. NOW, Accenture plc ACN and Fortinet.

Apart from providing cybersecurity solutions, Nozomi Networks’ solutions can also be deployed in the cloud to monitor industrial control networks and automate inventories by leveraging AI. Some of its use cases are predictive maintenance and asset management. With these innovative features, Nozomi Networks can bolster Telefonica’s cybersecurity capabilities to address enterprise demand for enhanced protection in IoT. Interestingly, the latest deal was followed by a joint services agreement between Telefonica's cybersecurity arm, ElevenPaths and Nozomi Networks earlier this year. Impressively, the recent partnership has expanded Telefónica Innovation Ventures’ portfolio of investments in 11 startups, thereby reinforcing its commitment to provide risk management capabilities for critical infrastructure customers.

Over the last few years, Telefonica has invested heavily in the deployment and transformation of its network to provide seamless connectivity with enhanced capacity, speed, coverage and security. Primarily, investment in fiber network is crucial to Telefonica’s growth. With its operations across 17 countries, it has 344 million accesses with robust presence in Europe and Latin America. It has also secured interests from various industries for its communication infrastructure properties, which generates a stable cash flow. The Spanish telecom company is successfully capitalizing on the opportunities in the digital world through several growth strategies to enhance long-term prospects, while experiencing healthy traction in the smartphone market.

Telefonica currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Its shares have plunged 44.8% compared with the industry’s decline of 24.1% in the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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