Börje Ekholm celebrated his first day as Ericsson CEO with the announcement of one of the most high profile new contracts yet to come out of the strategic alliance with Cisco. There has been rising impatience at the modest nature of the results of that alliance, or at least those which have been shared in public, so the deal, with Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), will be a useful morale booster. The two vendors, which are already suppliers to the operator, will now work together to virtualize VHA’s core and IP networks. If well executed, this could be an important proof point in an area where the offerings of Ericsson and Cisco should, logically, be complementary and deliver more than the…