One of the key topics discussed during the first panel discussion at this year’s Capacity in Europe was the changing nature of the network, as new technology such as software defined networks, SD-WAN, become more prominent.
The panel, which was chaired by Telegeography senior analyst Erik Kreifeldt, featured representatives from AT&T, BCE Nexxia (Bell Canada), PCCW Global and Telstra, discussing “Wholesale and Enterprise – creating partnerships for changing business needs.”
Telstra group MD and chief customer office of Global Enterprise and Services Martijn Blanken claimed the industry has yet to figure out how to bring truly hybrid solutions to the table for enterprises.
“The lip service is that to make a truly hybrid solution, we’ll all create an open platform,” he said. “But it hasn’t really happened yet.
“It’s not just SD-WAN. It’s across a lot of network solutions, including data centres and the interconnects.
“But we also have to look at how the mobile networks are integrated in to the network to provide a better service. I can get faster speeds on mobile in some places than I do over an Ethernet connection.”
Adel Bazerghi, president of BCE Nexxia, also took part in the panel. He claimed that although MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) has served its primary purpose for more than two decades, it still has a part to play in future networks.
“Networks are still evolving,” he said. “But it wont be a case of moving to new, software defined technology and just ditching the MPLS, both will continue to exist for some time. It is all about interoperability.”
One of the key topics raised by chair Kreifeldt was the relationship between cloud service providers and carriers, and the challenges and opportunities present there.
PCCW Global CEO Mar Halbfinger said: “The interoperability amongst carriers, and the interoperability between cloud service providers and carriers, is different. They see themselves as separate from us. They see themselves as an independent ecosystem, and this is a major challenge for the industry.
“The service providers will always strive to provide a method for commercial interoperability. In order to facilitate wholesale services, but some of the western cloud providers have chose to have an environment where you just connect to their infrastructure and the customer settles their revenue their rather than through the service provider.
“In that way, hybrid environments become more for the benefit of the customers than for the service providers.”
