Enterprise Cloud connectivity made easy with Virtual Cloud Exchange
VCX solution as recognised as 'Highly commended' virtualisation initiative at Glotel awards 2018
Today, more and more enterprises want connectivity to one or more clouds via their Communication Service Provider (CSP) managed networks. When connecting to SaaS, PaaS and IaaS clouds, many medium to large enterprises intend to utilize CSP managed networks to provide performance guarantees, security postures and application performance assurance. CSP managed networks are growing by leaps and bounds as the market for MPLS global networks is close to $40 billion and Carrier Ethernet is about to surpass $50 billion.
Let’s look at how enterprises are connecting to cloud today using their managed networks. The major cloud providers usually utilize a layer 3 model in which basic connectivity between the enterprise and cloud is provided using a layer 2 Ethernet model. This results in the layer 3 provisioning, administration and management getting pushed to the enterprise directly instead of being managed by the service provider.
Taking a broader perspective at the enterprise-cloud connectivity issues that the industry, the following are points worth noting:
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Most clouds are based on Layer 3 connectivity with complex BGP rules and policies
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Asymmetrical Routing issues with Internet and managed networks
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Delayed expansion (time to market) for connectivity with Tier 2 and tier 3 Telco Partners
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Lack of standard framework for Telcos to connect to public cloud
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Lack of CSP knowledge and right skill sets for managing cloud transformation to public clouds
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Cloud Monitoring-as-a-Service -No end to end view of network and application performance
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Challenges around network scalability, programmability and adaptability to dynamic traffic
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Multiple opportunities where Service Provider cannot connect to Microsoft cloud and they want to leverage a global backbone with TCTS managed services
This new demand by enterprises wanting to connect to clouds via managed networks provides new set of service opportunities for CSPs and Tata Communications Transformation Services is better positioned to offer Virtual Cloud Exchange (VCX), which is part of a bigger platform called Overlay Network-as-a-Service.
An important part of the TCTS solution is that subscribers have the ability to self-provision themselves via a portal from the LSO system hosted within the service provider’s network. There is no need for any staff from the given service provider to manually insert any workflow processes, but instead the CSP subscriber directly places their intent into the LSO portal, for which the LSO orchestrates and automates the E2E workflow including E2E testing and activation. The subscriber at any given time can access how well their managed network connection to a given cloud is performing and/or the topology and configuration that was automated via the LSO system.
The key value propositions the solution offers include:
- All software and virtualization based use general purpose CPU
- Runs over any legacy packet and/or optical network
- Zero Touch Automation with tenant portal and APIs
- Multi-tenant based
- Hyperscale to millions of tenants
Leveraging industry SDN and NFV standards, TCTS VCX solution provides connectivity into existing MPLS, CE or WAN technologies for a given subscriber. With SDN and NFV approach, CSPs can deploy an NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) and Virtual Infrastructure Manager(VIM). A shared SDN infrastructure switch is put to use at the customer and cloud facing direction. This SDN switch implements a virtualized layer 2 over a layer 3 tunneling technology like VXLAN or NVGRE.
The SDN switch is a shared switch that belongs to the shared PoP NFV fabric and only needs to press into service a single port in each direction for the tenant and cloud provider.
In conclusion, TCTS’s VCX solution is an advanced software solution that is part of a broader Overlay Network-as-a-Service solution for CSPs worldwide. It runs on SDN, NFV and LSO platform to deliver cloud connectivity at the layer 3 level as well as other service virtualised functions. The TCTS VCX solution is a fully white label solution with optional 24/7/365 operational support.
