07 April 2018

Colt and Verizon say they have successfully showcased two-way inter carrier SDN orchestration for the first time. 

At a demonstration held in London in mid-March, it’s claimed both companies were able to make near-real-time bandwidth changes in each other’s production networks.

The firms say this is the first time two-way network orchestration between carrier production networks has been demonstrated anywhere in the world, and marks an important step in enabling real-time cross-carrier automation.

According to the two companies, next-generation infrastructure such as SDN is increasingly being viewed as key to helping organisations better manage network traffic, and improve business agility so that digital transformation can successfully support strategic business goals.

Mirko Voltolini, head of network on demand at Colt, says: “This showcase positively demonstrates the power of software defined networking and how increased adoption is putting operators and customers in control of their networks and services.

Previously, closed systems have made interoperability between service providers extremely difficult.”

Verizon’s EMEA head of product development Peter Konings adds that thedemo was the first time anyone in the world has been able to flex network capacity in both directions across network boundaries.

“This will be a game changer for enterprise networking,” he says. “Enterprise networking is in the midst of a revolution. Organisations today want intelligent, dynamic networks that respond automatically to their changing business needs.” 

Verizon and Colt are working with MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) to advance the development of industry standards, in particular, inter-carrier business and operational Lifecycle Service Orchestration APIs, which will accelerate the availability of this flexibility from more partner networks.