The network is fast becoming a key differentiator in the service provision space but the focus is becoming less on the infrastructure underpinning the network and more on the software driving functionality across it. And if telecommunications and data center providers are not creating the technology themselves in-house, they are looking for capabilities that help lead to true benefits of the software-defined network (SDN) by teaming up with third-party providers.
US data center provider CoreSite did exactly this in January 2011 with CENX, which operates Carrier Ethernet Exchanges providing access to more than 15 million Ethernet service locations and creates its own software offering route optimization with provisioning and troubleshooting.
The agreement pushed CENX into a number of key US markets including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Washington DC, the San Francisco bay area and Boston. It gave access to more than 600 data center customers. It was a key win for CENX but also for CoreSite, which was able to increase its ability to provide data center peering services using the software CENX created.
CoreSite CEO and President Thomas M Ray said CoreSite has been able to create additional value for customers, augmenting a range of interconnection and peering options available in its data centers – this being done with guaranteed SLAs. The CENX presence meant CoreSite could offer integrated Carrier Ethernet services, IP, voice and video connections over a single or protected high-speed connection.
CoreSite now calls this service its Cloud Exchange, and it allows any tenant in the data center to physically order unique interconnections from their cage or clients into the cloud exchange. In CoreSite’s case this could be Verizon or Goldman Sachs (both have 1G and 10G connections into the exchange). Members can also log into the portal and in real time set up connectivity, on demand.
This announcement was just the beginning for CENX, as murmurs about software in the network were to become full scale shouts over coming years. But it had the inherent qualities of what is now known as SDN.
A network shift in vision
Fast-forward to March 2014 and the Canadian-based CENX is now promoting itself as a service orchestration solutions company for Ethernet transport – as opposed to a carrier exchange. Its focus is on Web 2.0, automation, big data analytics for visualizing Ethernet transport services and the orchestration of service delivery across multiple operator networks (this is its own description).
It also has a new – unnamed to date – Tier 1 telco customer in North America. This mobile service provider is now carrying out a multi-million dollar project which will see it provide real-time performance and fault monitoring for its nationwide 4G backhaul network. And like most Tier 1 deployments to date focussing on SDN, there is little doubt that the Tier 2 providers are keeping one eye on each deployment’s success to see how it could translate into their own environments in future.
CENX is helping its Tier 1 customer deploy and manage its 4G networks using its Ethernet Lifecycle Manager (ELM) software to improve first-time turnout rates from 20% to 90%, bringing both CAPEX and OPEX savings. “It means wireless operators can offer Ethernet services more efficiently and be managed better,” CENX co-founder Nan Chen says.
The offerings both CoreSite and the Tier 1 operators have for customers bring one-click provisioning for connectivity to allow interconnectivity within the data center and across data centers. “An enterprise customer can come in with a portal and self-provision Ethernet connectivity to any end point – it could be their cages in another data center, their content providers or service providers,” Chen said. “Once they figure out where they want to go they can click on connectivity and ELM will automatically make that connection. It can guarantee services, update billing records and provide ongoing monitoring. It is really the next generation of cloud connectivity on demand, end-to-end.”
A security model can also determine who can and can’t be connected to. The orchestration software also allows for permissions to be run across the network and for capacity to be controlled so you can turn up service as required. “Customers can also look at connections and see real-time operational status of each. It means you can see any delay to segregation and get full SLA reports, and determine how much bandwidth you may use next month. It really covers full lifecycle. In CoreSite and a lot of other data centers we are partnering with, operators extend that connectivity model out to the enterprise branch offices, so people can get guaranteed quality access on web services not just on global connectivity but for real-time connectivity from the office, which means you can get a two-fold carrier connectivity that most telecom services don’t have today.”
Most recently, CENX has released Version 5.0 of its software, which features a predictable utilization model, allowing networking and planning teams to determine CAPEX and OPEX investment just-in-time. Chen said the solution can save money by reducing risk. It can automatically show capacity requirements and measure service in terms of delay, diversions and so on. Lead times for orders can be tracked, from switches to routers and packets can be measured as they move along the networks of different providers. “We call it a network with a conscience, it can self-optimize,” Chen says. “The software can segregate between different links.”
A timely move
The reason companies such as CoreSite are choosing to partner for solutions such as these is really about global reach. “You can get a Pacnet, Verizon, Terremark – none of these [carriers] can reach all locations, especially when they are starting to deal with such large enterprise customers (which also have a global footprint). These companies have to partner with other enterprise partners and data center operators, this means may Ethernet services are inter-carrier. Our solution offers complete restful APIs, so if each one of these independent clouds has a physical interconnect to 10G and a service orchestration solution on top they can do connectivity on demand. Otherwise they would have to go into the carrier and access the providers they need to reach all different end points,” Chen says.
CoreSite called CENX in to look at its network operations two years ago. At that time CENX was focussed on its exchange business. It evaluated CoreSite’s systems and infrastructure. ELM was then used to inside CENX’s own exchanges and then integrated with the CoreSite network. “Now, a CoreSite customer like Goldman Sachs, if it wants to integrate with AWS it has to specify what connectivity is required and hit a button to order it. They will automatically be connected to the AWS server and billed. In the past this could take a week – someone would have to place the order, then someone would have had to go to the cage. CoreSite calls this product Open Cloud and it has been offering this for a year. It removes this manual process,” Chen says.
ELM was originally created four years ago for use inside CENX’s own exchanges. CENX CTO says it was used to allow for interconnect between parties. It provides Carrier Ethernet transport services for mobile backhaul, cloud data center Ethernet exchanges and Ethernet access providers and was launched officially this year. Its release follows a decision made by CENX to go down the software route – something in now focuses on 100% with solutions for Tier 1 providers and operators.
Chen is also the founding president of the Metro Ethernet Forum, which believes Carrier Ethernet will be the third network, presenting solutions to the challenges of mobile proliferation and LTE (Long Term Evolution – or 4G), following on from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet.
The idea is that this third network will bring the levels of quality guaranteed by PSTN to Internet connectivity, with multiple classes for service, better manageability and interconnects.
“The insatiable need for bandwidth will continue to grow, and we will need to see services attuned to the requirements of the applications in terms of SLAs, delays, delivery, packet laws, availability, and the virtualization movement in this industry, which is also growing. We are seeing the transition from TDM (time-division multiplexing) to Ethernet. And this transition is impacting on the network of data center operators in terms of OSSs (operations support systems) and the operational processes,” Chen says.
Today CENX is working with a number of data center providers that are moving to – or planning on moving to – SDN based solutions which separate the control plane from the network. This means that software capabilities can exist on top of existing infrastructure.
But CENX does not cover the whole spectrum of SDN. “SDN is a pretty broad term. We don’t build anything in the infrastructure layer, and we do not focus on the SDN controller. We are really just a service orchestration layer on top that supports both SDN controllers below and the network virtualization functions in a unified manner. Our real mission is full end-to-end orchestration for full lifecycle of the services, from initial design to disconnect. And we can do this by fitting into an existing environment to help the transition from TDM-based services and Ethernet-based services towards SDN,” Chen says.
CENX is working with a number of operators to help manage disparate connections for end users covering mobile operators, data center operators and wireline operators. “We can synch the requirements for the different OSSs. The data in each system is unique, which means they don’t have a unified view of it otherwise. We can give them a visual view of the end-to-end circuit between the core router to the core of the network, adding analytics to reduce CAPEX. This also helps with the transition to the SDN-based network.”
This is just the early stage of capabilities, according to Chen. The next step, which he is putting his MEF hat on for, is the development of standards. “We are important now because we can lay on existing infrastructure, automate and reduce costs and help transition to SDN, but from a standards perspective, we will get a better understanding of what needs to be done from the hardware perspective and SDN controller perspective and the services orchestration level. From an MEF perspective the focus is now on delivering next-gen networks that are automated and on demand. We have a lot of energy on delivering that inter-carrier service orchestration standards or APIs. We want the standards interfaces to connect the two end points between carriers and this is really what will make the third network a reality.”