NTT Shifts Gears To SDN Services
Japan's NTT Communications is going all-in for software-defined networking technology as a means of managing web and cloud-based VPNs, servers, and network segments in virtual servers.
Tokyo-based NTT, Japan's largest telecommunications carrier, said the phased SDN upgrades would enable flexibility in bandwidth delivery, the addition of computer network segments and global IP addresses along with changes in VPN circuit routing. NTT also noted there would be no charge for the network upgrades.
The carrier said the shift to SDN technology would offer greater flexibility to enterprise clouds, including the ability to accelerate business expansion while reducing workloads. The technology can be used to directly manage network settings for computing, storage and networking along with Internet and VPN settings.
Motoo Tanaka, NTT Communications' senior vice president of cloud services, noted in a statement that the SDN-based network management upgrades would be offered as an on-demand service via a customer portal.
Meanwhile, the carrier said it would add more datacenters outside Japan that would offer customers additional managed enterprise cloud services. SDN upgrades such as the ability to change VPN circuits would be available immediately at its Japan datacenter before introduction at other datacenter locations later this year.
SDN upgrades include the ability to create, change or eliminate Internet circuits along with adding or deleting cloud network segments. Those functions would initially be added at NTT's domestic datacenter before being introduced at eleven other locations in nine countries later this year, the carrier said.
NTT said the SDN upgrades to its enterprise cloud service would begin "sequentially" with an immediate rollout in Japan of the ability to change VPN circuits connected to cloud infrastructure. VPN bandwidth and routing information can be adjusted using NTT Communications' Arcstar Universal One service. The service allows the changing of network configurations while eliminating the need for reserving bandwidth for emergencies.
A service rollout in Europe and the U.S. by the end of the year would allow modified Internet circuits to be hooked up to cloud infrastructure, the carrier said. The NTT customer portal allows users to establish or eliminate Internet circuits as well as changing bandwidth and adding global IP addresses. Bandwidth ranges from a "best effort" 10 Mbps to a guaranteed 1 Gbps.
NTT said the functionality eliminates the need to reserve surplus capacity for handling traffic spikes.
Server segments can be modified in the final stage of the rollout also planned the end of the year. NTT said the feature would allow enterprises to either add or delete up to 24 server segments on demand, allowing for short-term optimization of cloud infrastructure.
The VPN and Internet circuit modifications would permit customers to directly manage networks on an on-demand basis.
The carrier added it would continue to announce "strategic investments" in its global IT service offering through the end of 2014.
