First, Huawei has its work cut out. It has to cultivate a roster of channel partners and convince them to push a Chinese brand with a checkered past - Huawei was embroiled in years ago. Huawei's Chinese roots also led to concerns in the U.S. when it and Bain Capital looked to acquire 3Com years ago. That deal .

Huawei also has to Westernize its product portfolio and make the user interface a little more familiar to customers in North America, Roese said.

The Chinese and intellectual property issues are well in the past, Roese says.

"We're multinational with a significant presence in China and developing countries," he says. "Most of the global companies that exist have already gotten over their concerns about competing in a global ecosystem. Lots of verticals in the U.S. are open to a global company, an international company, selling them technology."

He says Huawei over the years has invested "huge resources" into building up its own intellectual property portfolio. It now owns 50,000 patents and has 120 leadership positions in standards bodies around the world, Roese says.