James Sullivan Discusses AT&T’s Software-Centric Networking

What can software-centric networking do for you?

Growing your business in Asia? SDN and NFV deliver agility and scalability.

Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) bring agility and scalability to corporate networks and make multinational businesses in Asia more competitive.

But what do SDN and NFV mean for you?

SDN and NFV give you the freedom to more easily and flexibly manage your networks, adding or modifying virtual network functions (VNFs) as easily as downloading apps on a smartphone. It’s your choice. You can start with one set of network functions and add more as your needs change.

They change the essence of networking. Control shifts from physical hardware to virtualized software and hardware. This makes the network infrastructure highly adaptable. Plus, it means you are no longer locked into a specific hardware vendor. AT&T FlexWare^SM helps you take advantage of virtualization on your network today. An installed FlexWare device on your property connects to the SDN-enabled cloud to download the FlexWare applications you choose to install.

This software turns your device into a virtualized network appliance of your choice. The real game-changer? You no longer need multiple pieces of specialized equipment.

Imagine you’re expanding your business to new markets in Asia. What will SDN and NFV let you do? 

• More efficiently change and control network services to enable applications as needed. For example, you could provision new services to support a marketing campaign or R&D project. You would do this on-demand and on infrastructure that is close to the marketing or R&D team to minimize latency and maximize performance.
• Improve security. When an attack is detected, SDN lets your network service provider more easily deploy updates and isolate and contain problems. In the case of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, for example, your service provider can use its software-centric architecture to scale the network security in near real time to avoid disruption to your operations.
• Simplify your network infrastructure and vendor contracts. With AT&T FlexWare, you manage all your virtual network functions via an online portal. It’s quick to set up and easy to use. It simplifies management and streamlines operations.
• Help you lower your total cost of network ownership by eliminating the need for proprietary equipment.
• Quickly roll out the networking infrastructure you need—virtually wherever you need it. AT&T FlexWare lets you set up multiple virtual network functions, like a router and firewall, on a single device. You can also customize the applications you use.
• Tailor each business site’s set of virtual functions to its individual needs. You can mix and match devices and applications from best-of-breed vendors.

AT&T uses SDN and NFV capabilities on our own networks. We’ve lowered our costs and greatly increased our network’s flexibility, adaptability, and capability. You can benefit too—with help from AT&T FlexWare.

James Sulliva, Director of Sales, Australia and New Zealand, AT&T