BT has launched a new Service and Network Automation Platform (SNAP) designed to help customers innovate using SD-WAN and network functions virtualisation (NFV) technologies.
The unique platform sits at the heart of BT’s global network and leverages SD-WAN controllers from Cisco and Nuage Networks. SNAP also works with Cisco’s Network Services Orchestrator. SNAP uses open source software and industry-standard languages including YANG for network modelling and TOSCA for service definition and VNF service chaining. Control commands can now cascade through BT’s systems taking effect within minutes, something that previously could take weeks.
BT said it plans to extend orchestration from its core network to major third-party cloud data centres and all the way into customers’ local area networks (LAN) and data centre LANs (DC-LANs). This will provide end-to-end applications visibility, control and configuration from customers’ laptops and devices through to servers in the cloud.
BT has pooled its SD-WAN and NFV expertise and key skills into a new Centre of Excellence (CoE). The CoE supports the full life cycle of customers’ SD-WAN or NFV services, collaborating across design and deployment to operations. The integrated team is backed with a programme of investment in training and tools in areas such as YANG, Netconf and TOSCA — new skills that are in very short supply.
Keith Langridge, vice president of network services at BT, said: “We’re investing to make it easier for our customer to take advantage of the latest networking technologies and cloud. Our new Service and Network Automation Platform and Centre of Excellence help customers tap into our wealth of know-how and experience in SDN and NFV. We have created a unique environment in which customers can deploy the latest software-defined services alongside their underlying network technologies. This transforms their experience of the journey to SD-WAN and makes the promise of software-defined services an operational reality.”
