Nuage uses SDN to aid enterprise connectivity needs
"Across the WAN and out to the branch, the context is increasingly complicated, with the need to deliver legacy and cloud applications to users - and sometimes customers - that are increasingly mobile, spanning several networks," says Brad Casemore, research director, data centre networks at IDC. These networks can include MPLS, Metro Ethernet, broadband and 3G and 4G wireless.
The data centre is a great microcosm of the network - Houman Modarres
At present, remote offices use custom equipment that require a visit from an engineer. In contrast, VNS uses SDN technology to deliver enterprise services to a generic box, or software that runs on the enterprise's server. The goal is to speed up the time it takes an enterprise to set up or change their business services at a remote site, while also simplifying the service provider's operations.
What has been done
Nuage designed its SDN-enabled connectivity products from the start for use in the data centre and beyond. "The data centre is a great microcosm of the network," says Modarres. "But we designed it in such a way that the end points could be flexible, within and across data centres but also anywhere."
Nuage uses open protocols like OpenFlow to enable the control plane to talk to any device, while its software agents that run on a server can work with any hypervisor. The control plane-based policies are downloaded to the end points via its SDN controller.
Using VNS, services can be installed without a visit from a specialist engineer. A user powers up the generic hardware or server and connects it to the network whereby policies are downloaded. The user enters a sent code that enables their privileges as defined by the enterprise's policies.
"Just as in the data centre, there is a real need for greater agility through automation, programmability, and orchestration," says IDC's Casemore. "One could even contend that for many enterprises, the pain is more acutely felt on the WAN, especially as they grapple with how to adapt to cloud and mobility."
Extending the connectivity end points beyond the data centre has required Nuage to bolster security and authentication procedures. Modarres points out that data centers and service provider central offices are secured environments; a remote office that could be a worker's home is not.
"You need to do authentication differently and IPsec connections are needed for security, but what if you unplug it? What if it is stolen?" he says. "If someone goes to the bank and steals a router, are they a bank branch now?"
To address this, once a remote office device is unplugged for a set time - typically several minutes - its configuration is reset. Equally, when a router is deliberated unplugged, for example during an office move, if notification is given, the user receives a new authentication code on the move's completion and the policies are restored.
Nuage's virtualised services platform comprise three elements: the virtualised services directory (VSD), virtualised services controller (VSC) - the SDN controller - and the virtual routing and switching module (VR&S).
"The only thing we are changing is the bottom layer, the network end point, which used to be in the data centre as the VR&S, and is now broken out of the data centre, as in the network services gateway, to be anywhere," says Modarres. "The network services gateway has physical and virtual form factors based on standard open compute."
Nuage is finding that businesses are benefitting from an SDN approach in surprising ways.
The company cites banks as an example that are forced by regulation to ensure that there are no security holes at their remote locations. One bank with 400 branches periodically sends individuals to each to check the configuration to ensure no human errors in its set-up could lead to a security flaw. With 400 branches, this procedure takes months and is costly.
With SDN and its policy-level view of all locations - what each site and what each group can do - there are predefined policy templates. There may be 10, 20 or 30 templates but they are finite, says Modarres: "At the push of a button, an organisation can check the templates, daily if needed".
This is not why a bank will adopt SDN, says Modarres, but the compliance department will be extremely encouraging for the technology to be used, especially when it saves the department millions of dollars in ensuring regulatory compliance.
Nuage Networks says it has 15 customer wins and 60 ongoing trials globally for its products. Customers that have been identified include healthcare provider UPMC, financial services provider BBVA, cloud provider Numergy, hosting provider OVH, infrastructure providers IDC Frontier and Evonet, and telecom providers TELUS and NTT Communications.
Ciena offers enterprises vNF pick and choose
Ciena, working with partners, has developed a platform for service providers to offer enterprises network functions they can select and configure with the click of a button.
Dubbed Agility Matrix, the product enables enterprises to choose their IT and connectivity services using software running on servers. It also promises to benefit service providers' revenues, enabling more adventurous service offerings due to the flexibility and new business models the virtual network functions (vNFs) enable. Currently, managed services require specialist equipment and on-site engineering visits for their set-up and management, while the contracts tend to be lengthy and inflexible.
"It offers an ecosystem of vNF vendors with a licensing structure that can give operators flexibility and vendors a revenue stream," says Eric Hanselman, chief analyst at 451 Research. "There are others who have addressed the different pieces of the puzzle, but Ciena has wrapped the products with the business tools to make it attractive to all of the players involved."
Ciena has created an internal division, dubbed Ciena Agility, to promote the venture. The unit has 100 staff while its technology, Agility Matrix, is being trialled by service providers although Ciena has declined to say how many.
"Why a separate devision? To move fast in a market that is moving rapidly," says Kevin Sheehan, vice president and general manager of Ciena Agility.
The unit inherits Agility products previously announced by Ciena. These include the multi-layer WAN controller that Ciena is co-developing with Ericsson, and certain applications that run on the software-defined networking (SDN) controller.
"The unique aspect of Ciena’s offering is the comprehensive approach to virtualised functions, says Hanselman. "It tackles everything from service orchestration out to monetisation."
Source: Ciena
What has been done
Agility Matrix comprises three elements: the vNF Market, Director and the host. The vNF Market is cloud-based and enables a service provider to offer a library of vNFs that its enterprise customers can choose from. An enterprise IT manager can select the vNFs required using a secure portal.
The Director, the second element, does the rest. The Director, built using Openstack software, delivers the vNFs to the host, an x86 instruction set-based server located at the enterprise's premises or in the service provider's central office or data centre.
The Director generates a software licence, the enterprise customer confirms the vNFs are working, which prompts the Director to generate post-payment charging data records. The VNF Market then invoices the service provider and pays the vNF vendors selected.
"Agility Matrix enables a pay-as-you-earn model for the service provider, much different from today's managed services providers' experiences," says Sheenan, who points out that a service provider currently buys custom hardware in bulk based on their enterprise-demand forecast, shipping products one by one. Now, with Agility Matrix, the service provider pays for a licence only after its enterprise customer has purchased one.
Ciena has launched Agility Matrix with five vNF partners. The partners and their vNF products are shown in the table.
Source: Gazettabyte
AT&T Domain 2.0 programme
Ciena is one of the vendors selected by AT&T for its Supplier Domain 2.0 programme. Does AT&T's programme influence this development?
“We are always working with our customers on addressing their current and future problems," says Sheehan. "When we bring something like Agility Matrix to the market, it is created by working with our partners and customers to develop a solution that is designed to meet everyone’s needs."
"Ciena has application programming interfaces that can support integration at several levels, but it is not clear that Agility is part of the deployment within Domain 2.0," says Hanselman. "The interesting things in Domain 2.0 are the automation and virtualisation pieces; Ciena can handle the automation part with its existing products."
Meanwhile, AT&T has announced its 'Network on Demand' that enables businesses to add and change network services in 'near real-time' using a self-service online portal.